AVENGERS: Crusade
by gearo1313
Summary: There was an idea. Bring together a group of individuals, unite them to become something more, to fight the battles no one else could, to protect and defend the world against all threats. (AU.)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**_[Years earlier, Nightclub, New York City, USA]_**

**_[Rooftop.] Both Karai and I watch as Nelson Branco, the leader of the Viceroy gang, exits his car and enters his nightclub along with his security team. "I count 30 armed hostiles inside," Karai says, looking through her sniper rifle's scope, "This won't be a clean and easy run." "Never expected it to be," I say, firing a grapple-line toward the nightclub's roof. [Inside.] Drop the guy on the balcony first. Rush up behind another goon, I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck, putting him in a back-chokehold. He drops unconsciously to the floor. I sprint to another thug. The man was caught by surprise. He didn't have time to react as I grabbed hold of his head and slammed him down to the floor. Bad-guy-4 spots me and starts to set his gun at the ready. I zig-zag across the room and hip-throw the goon through a nearby table. Four others come through the door. Four whistling objects fly past me, dropping the four goons. "Thanks for the save," I say to Karai over the comlink. "Hacked their security system. I locked the top floor down. No one is getting in or out. I'm moving to you now," Karai says._**

**_Three tangos come out and surround me. The first guy comes at me with a wide haymaker. I deflect the attack, go around his back, deliver two body shots to the right kidney, and then knock him out with a hammer punch. The second guy swings a poor hook-punch. Block it, hit the guy with two gut punches, stump out his kneecap. He drops, screaming out in pain. I leave him to his agony. The last-one-standing rushes at me with an iron pipe, swinging it wildly. I duck under the swing, grab the iron pipe, rip it out the attacker's hands, and grab him by the head and ram it down to my knees, knocking him out cold._**

**_I advance on Branco's main office door but stop in my tracks as Branco himself kicks open the door, wielding an SMG. "Fucking mask freak!" he yells out. When Branco sees me, he opens fire. I jump to cover then toss a smoke grenade for cover. The area is quickly engulfed in thick white smoke. In a panic, Branco starts to fire in all directions, missing me with every shot. "Show yourself, you fuck! You think I'm going to let a freak in a mask take me down! This city is my Kingdom! My fucking castle! My empire!" "No! Tonight, your empire will burn to ashes," a voice yells out. Karai's. Using the smoke as cover, she shoots Branco in both his knees, dropping the crime boss._**

_**Branco screams out in agony, clenching his injured legs. He desperately tries to reach over for the SMG that fell beside him. As his fingers reach the handle grip, I stomp on his hand and kick the weapon away. Reach down and grab Branco by the throat, getting him to his feet. Karai punches him in the face. He falls. She jumps on him and punches Branco again and again. When Karai stopped, Branco's face was a bloody mess. Nearly unrecognizable. He's still breathing, barely. I draw my pistol and finish Branco off with a single shot to the head. Suddenly there's a booming bright flash of light. Multiple tactical suited soldiers come storming into the nightclub, weapon ready. We notice the SHIELD insignia on their uniforms. The troopers shoot us with stun-blots. Everything goes black.**_

**_[Unknown location]_**

**_Opening my eyes, I find myself in a holding cell with Karai, hands cuffed behind our backs. Karai starts to regain consciousness. "Where are we?" she asks, dazed. "No idea," I tell her. "You're in a holding cell on the Helicarrier," a voice says. We turn to face the source of the voice. Outside of the holding cell stands an African American man with an eyepatch. "My name is Nick Fury. Director of SHIELD," the man says, "Let's cut straight to the point. I've been tracking you two. Corvo and Samus or rather Raijin and Karai. The PARAGADES. A real dynamic duo. No question you're effective given that the both of you systematically cripple the Viceroy gang. I know an asset when I see one and you two are it. I want the PARAGADES to join SHIELD." Completely taken aback, Karai and I look at each other in shock and confusion. "Why?" I ask. Fury cracks a small smile, "There was an idea. Bring together a group of individuals, unite them to become something more, to fight the battles no one else could, to protect and defend the world against all threats."_**

**_[Years later, Secret SHIELD base]_**

**_Karai and I enter the lab. We volunteered to take part in SHIELD's SUPER-SOLDIER program. A bio-enhancement program based on Project Rebirth, the SUPER-SOLDIER project that turned Steve Rogers into the first SUPER-SOLDIER known as Captain America. A team of scientists prepares us for the procedure. Once we're ready, Karai and I enter a chamber. On the opposite end of the chamber is a tray with sets of items. A syringe and a blue-glowing tube. 'BIO-ENHANCER.' Both Karai and I peer at each other through a window of our chambers, and with a determined nod, we make our move. Collecting the syringes, both of us inject the BIO-ENHANCER compound into our necks. It instantly takes effect._**

**[Present time, UN building, New York City]**

**Epyon, a crime/emergency alert system, tags a code-red op. [On-site.] A team of STRIKE commandos and I scale the side of the UN building. A group of terrorists took control of the UN summit. The Ten Rings, a terrorist organization dedicated to destroying world peace by any means necessary. In short, a group of anarchists. No one had any idea how they managed to get past security, but that wasn't the main issue at the moment nor my concern. My job is to get in, eliminate the threats, and get out. I tap my comlink, "STRIKE-1 is in position," I say. "Copy. You got two hostiles on the floor above you," Karai says. Two shots. "It's clear," she tells me. I make my way in through the window with four STRIKE commandos following right behind me. [Inside.] "Okay, we split up here. You two take the West sector. You two take East. I'll take North. Watch each other's six. Everybody goes home tonight. The only ones who leave in a body-bag are the bad guys." We split up. I enter the main room, where I sighted the hostages rounded up in the center. Karai makes entry by the window above. The four STRIKE commandos from the other entrance. I signal everyone to be ready for a sync-shot. Everyone gets ready. "On my go," I whisper. I fire the first shot, killing a man with a headshot. Five more bodies drop simultaneously. We move to secure the hostages. I tap my comlink, "Threats eliminated. Hostages are secured. You send in the cleanup crew, Coulson." "Copy that," Coulson says.**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Office.] "Well done on the rescue mission," Fury says to us, "Coulson gave me a full mission report." "I feel dirty for saving a bunch of politicians who have done some questionable things," Karai remarks. "Ditto on that," I say in agreement. "I don't like it as much as you do, but it's part of the job," Fury says, "We don't pick or choose the op." I shrug my shoulders, "Maybe so, but I don't like sticking my neck out for a bunch of corrupt bureaucrats." "Duly noted," Fury says.**

**[Nick Fury POV]**

**With a sigh, I turn my gaze back at the files over my desk and candidates' profiles for the AVENGERS initiative project. So far, there are only four members who qualify. Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye, Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow, Samus AKA Karai, and Corvo AKA Raijin. Two assassins and two soldiers. I need more people for the unit. Tony Stark AKA Iron Man was considered for the team, but Romanoff and Coulson wrote him off as unqualified. I thought about putting Ava Starr AKA Ghost on the team, but she's too much of a risk factor due to her mental state. My eye glance over at an old photo of Mar-vell and me. Back when I was a young man and had two sets of working eyes. The corner of my lip tilts upward at the memories. I wondered about Mar-vell's daughter. That woman is becoming more and more like her old man. I sigh and get back going through the profiles.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**Karai and I make our way to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat. Once we get our meal, we sit at a table on the far end of the mess hall. Karai got herself a large club sandwich. While I got a plate of sushi. "Did anyone ever tell you; you're addicted to sushi?" Karai says with a smile. "No. Least not to my face. Then again, I'm not a very social person," I say, eating a roll, "Besides if an anime characters could get away with eating Ramen all the time, I can get away with eating sushi." I stick out my tongue at her. Karai rolls her eyes. By the corner of my eyes, I notice Melinda May. Everyone in the mess hall looks at her. An array of different expressions. Admiration, respect, shame, and loathing. All because of the outcome of a busted mission. Neither Karai nor I knew the op's details, but going by what was said, it was bad. Whatever happened in that op chanced May. I'll even go as far it killed a part of her. Once she got her meal, May left. "Always knew she was going to eventually lose her shit," I hear a fellow agent says. I glare at the man, "Hey, Kevin, do you know what happened on the op?" "No," he says. "Then keep your fucking mouth shut," I growl. The agent looks down at his meal in embarrassment. Suddenly losing our appetite, we leave.**

**Just as we exit the mess hall, our comlink rings. "Raijin, I need you and your partner to come to my office. Now," Fury says. "On our way," I say. Both Karai and I walk off. As we reach Fury's office, the man walks out, indicating for us to follow. We follow right behind Fury to the command center. "Do we have visual?" Fury asks the tech guy as we enter. "Yes, Sir. Putting it on screen now," the tech guy says. We all turn our attention to the primary monitor. The monitor shows the salvage team in the Arctic. "Sir, we have visual on the body? It... It's still alive," a salvage team member says. "Can you confirm an ID?" Fury asks. "It's him, Sir. Steve Rogers. The living legend Captain America himself." I notice the shine in Fury's eyes.**

**[1 day later]**

**When we got word that Steve Rogers was brought to the NYC SHIELD HQ, Karai and I rushed toward the med-bay. [Med-bay.] A medical team is already working on the super-soldier. He places under a heat lamp, safely melting away the ice he was encased in. "How is he doing?" Fury asks. "Vital signs are stable," a medical staff says. "Any signs of brain damage?" Fury inquires. "No brain damage," the lead doctor says, "Hell, I'm surprised this man is even alive after being exposed to sub-zero temperatures and encased in ice for 70 years. This shouldn't be possible." "Well, they always said Captain America is the man that can make the impossible possible," I say. "Once he's defrosted, I want him in a secure room. Raijin, Karai, you'll be acting as security," Fury orders. "Copy," Karai and I say.**

**[Security-room.] We're stationed in the security room right across the hall from Steve Rogers's. Steve's quarter is designed to replicate a 1940s theme hospital. "He's not going to fall for it," I say, watching the sleeping super-soldier through the security monitors. "You sure?" Karai challenges, giving me a side look, "I did tell Fury that maybe we should've thrown him in VR, but he was strongly against the idea." "I can't say I disagree," I tell her, "But back to the topic, you saying you would fall for this setup." Karai sigh, "Probably not. If the files on him are accurate, his enhanced senses will pick up on something quick. Like us." Hours passed. Both of us notice a slight movement. "Umm, I think he's waking up," Karai says. I tap my comlink, "Agent Kendra, he's up." "Better call Fury. I'm almost sure things are to go sideways quick," Karai warns. The security feed shows Agent Kendra walking into the room, "Good morning, or should I say afternoon." Steve peers at her, suspiciously, "Where am I?" "You're in a recovery center in New York City," Agent Kendra tells him.**

**He didn't believe her. 'Shit.' Steve looks around his surroundings. He knows something is off. The man eyes the radio as if it confirms his suspicions. "Where am I really?" Steve asks in a firmer tone. Kendra smiles, nervously, "I'm afraid I don't understand?" "The game. It's from May 1941. I know because I was there," Steve tells her. 'Oh, fuck.' That moment Kendra triggers a silent alert. Both Karai and I rush out the door. As we run down the hall, a security team rushes into the room, armed with stun weapons. A moment later, the four men are thrown out of the room. Cap steps out through the gaping hole.**

**"Woah, Woah. Captain Rogers, stop. We're not your en-," Karai tries reasoning with the World War II super-soldier, holding her hands up non-threateningly. Cap grabs her arm and arm-throws her to the ground. I grab him from behind in a control-hold, "Stand down, Captain. We're not your enemy." The first super-soldier breaks free, reaches over his back, and throws me toward the wall, cracking it on impact. "Ow," I groan. Steve makes a dash to his shield on a nearby table and then runs out the door. Karai and I force ourselves back to our feet and take off after him. The intercom comes to life with a voice calling for a code-13. "Belay that order. All units stand down, let him go outside," Fury orders. We stop our chase.**

**[New York City]**

**When we get outside, a SHIELD tac-team surrounds Steve on all sides. The Super-Soldier stands in the middle of Times Square. His face is a mixture of emotions, amazement, confusion, and awe. To a normal civilian, they would have thought he was scared. No. He was acting like a soldier in a new environment. Assessing the situation and determining a possible course of action. "At ease, Soldier," Fury says. Steve turns around to face us, sizing up each of us, debating if we're enemies or not. Fury walks over to him, "We were going to break it to you slow and easy." "Break what?" Steve questions, confused. Fury sighs, "A lot has changed while you were MIA. You've been asleep, Cap. For nearly 70 years." "Did we win?" he asks. Fury smirks, "We did." There's a flash of relief, but it's quickly replaced by sorrow. "You good?" I ask, concerned. "Yeah, yeah... I had a date," Steve says, sagging his shoulders.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Weeks later, Rogers's apartment, New York City]**

**Using a computer Fury had given me, I started to go through everything I missed in the last 70 years. The world changed so much while I was away. A mixed bag of good and bad. 'The wheels of progress may be slow, but it's moving.' I mostly got down the bare essentials. History, science, technology, and culture. Pop culture is still a loss for me. Turn to the file on my team. All of the members of the Howling Commandos were gone. Dum Dum Dugan, Junior Juniper, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth, Gabe Jones, Jacques Dernier, Happy Sam Sawyer, Pinky Pinkerton, and Bucky. The only comfort is those who survived the war had long, fulfilling lives. The next file hit me hard. Peggy's. The file reported she passed away peacefully in her sleep a month ago. The next file was on Howard Stark. Disease. I drop my shoulders in grief. Currently, his son is running Stark Industries. Tony Stark. He also happened to be the armored hero known as Iron-Man. Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov are next. Well, I read what isn't covered in black ink. It's obvious to me that Clint and Natasha are SHIELD's black-op squad. The following profile was on the PARAGADES. Raijin and Karai. A vigilante team. Operates in New York City. Skilled, adaptive in combat, and hyper-lethal. The PARAGADES got on SHIELD's radar when they took out the Viceroy gang. SHIELD tracked the duo down and recruited them. Another team with a page full of black marks. Feeling restless, I decided to go to the gym.**

**[Boxing gym, New York City]**

**I punch the bag over and over. Every blow is harder than the last, but still in control. Flashes of memories of the war hit me like a wave. The last image is of Bucky's death. In a flash of anger, I strike the punching bag, sending it flying across the room. I quickly compose myself. I go to set up a new bag, then notices Fury and the two black-clad soldiers with him, the PARAGADES. Raijin and Karai. I salute Fury. "How are you feeling, Captain," Fury asks. "Fine. Just a little restless," I tell him. "Then I came at a perfect time," Fury says. He hands me a file, "I'm putting a team together, and I want you as its team leader." It doesn't even take me long to make a choice. I was always the type that jumps at the call of duty, to be the defender for the defenseless. "Yes. I'm in," I say. Fury smirks, "Welcome to SHIELD, Captain." Both of us shake hands.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[two weeks later, SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Training-area.] I punch the heavy bag with a right-hook, quickly follow with a left, then slam it with a right-elbow strike. The heavy-bag nearly breaks off its hinges. "You break it, you buy it. Plus, I think Fury is getting tired of hearing complaints," a voice says from behind me. Karai's. She walks over to the equipment rack, pulls out a pair of fingerless sparring gloves, and tosses it to me, "Feel like going a few rounds? It's been a while since we released some steam." "Bring it," I say, cracking a smile.**

**We both made our way to the training area, taking our fighting stance. At the same time, we both dash at each other, going full-on fist-to-fist boxing match. Punch. Karai blocks the attack, goes for a body shot, hitting me in the rib. In retaliation, I grab hold of her arm, arm-throw her to the ground. Acting quickly, Karai swings herself around, throws her legs around my head, putting me in a triangle chokehold. I start to see dark spots at the corner of my eyes. Grab hold of Karai, lift her and slam her down, breaking her grip. Getting to her feet, Karai rushes at me, jump-knees me in the chest, sending me flying into the wall. Grabs me, she starts hitting me with rapid-fire punches and elbows. Ducking low, I go around her, grab her hands and hold it over her head, pinning her to the wall. She smiles, "Well, if you wanted that type of stress release, all you had to do is ask." Karai then headbutts me in the face. Staggering back stun, Karai jumps in the air, throws her arm back then hits me with a jump-punch. "Having fun?" I ask, cleaning the blood away from my lower lip. "Fuck yeah, I am," Karai says.**

**We go at it for another 30 minutes. By the end of our friendly sparring match, we were sweating and breathing heavily. Both of us laid on the training area's floor. "That was thrilling," Karai says. "It's our way to blow off steam. You know that. Some use sex. We spar," I tell her. Karai and I burst out laughing.**

**[Steve Roger POV]**

**From outside the training area, I watch the sparring match between Karai and Raijin, impressed. Seen only a handful of people fight at that level. But their power and speed didn't seem natural. Curious, I decided to head to Fury's office to talk to him on the matter.**

**[Office.] Fury's office space is reasonably decorated. Nothing too flashy. As I'm eyeing around the office, a photo catches my attention. It's a photo of Fury standing side by side with a blonde woman. 'A friend? A daughter? A niece?' Back in my day, people didn't take kindly to interracial relationships. Unfortunately, I was sometimes tied in with that crowd, but I never agree with the ideology. A man and a woman are free to love who they want. From his desk, Fury notices my approach. "What is it, Captain?" he asks. "I was wondering if you can answer some questions regarding Raijin and Karai," I say, walking up to him. Not sure what gave it away, but Fury quickly realizes what I was getting at. "Figured it wasn't going to take you long to notice," he says, "Like you, Raijin and Karai are SUPER-SOLDIERS. They volunteered for the SUPER-SOLDIER program where they were infused with BIO-ENHANCER." "SUPER-SOLDIERS? I thought I was the only one?" I ask, confused. "You were. But the project never died. Since you were put in the spotlight, every government and military organization across the world jump-started their own Super-Soldier program, with mixed results," Fury tells me, "Howard Stark created the BIO-ENHANCER running through Raijin and Karai's system." 'Son of a gun pulled it off. The man still ceases to amaze me.'**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[1 week later, Afghanistan]**

**[Quinjet.] Cap is gearing up for his first mission with Karai and me. He's outfitted in the STRIKE suit the R&D team cooked up for him. Now, the man didn't stick out as much. Coulson starts to speak from the cockpit, "The mission is a rescue op. A team of marine was shot down within Ten-rings' territory. The survivors were taken captive." "Any demands?" Cap asks. "Yeah. They want SHIELD to release their generals and 500 million dollars," Coulson tells him. "Shit on that," Karai says, "All they're going to get is a cell or an early grave." I pull back the slide of my weapon.**

**[Waypoint.] We come in fast into the LZ, fast rope down to the town square. Cap takes the lead, and we follow. "Do we know if there are any friendly forces in the area?" Cap asks. "JSOC. They should be within the city limit by now," Coulson says. That moment we heard the sound of a gun battle going down. It's close. The three of us dash the source. A full-on battle ensues between JSOC and the Ten-Rings forces. Cap quickly surveys the area, "Karai, get on that roof and provide overwatch." "On it, Boss," she says. Karai activates her stealth-camo and grapples up to the rooftop. She set her sniper rifle at the ready. In the middle of the street, a JSOC soldier is hit in the leg. He's dead in the open. On the other end of the street, his team tries to get to him, but couldn't due to being pin down by sniper fire. "Karai, you got eyes on the sniper?" I say. "I see him, but I don't have a shot. The fucker's rifle is a different story, though," Karai says. She fires. We hear a slight scream in the distance. Cap and I run to the down JSOC soldier and carry him to cover. Once he was secured, we dash to a group of insurgents. Cap throws his shield, dropping multiple enemies. I leap over a parked car, slamming the butt of my rifle to the man's face and shoot the other three.**

**I spot another group of enemies on the balcony of a nearby building through the scope, readying to fire on us. Karai and I simultaneously take them down with headshots. Teaming up with JSOC, we make our way deeper into the city. Not long later, we reach the building INTEL team said the Ten-Rings were keeping the marines. The HUD scans the surroundings; picks up multiple targets. The Marines are being held on the top floor. Using the cover of darkness, we make our way into the building.**

**[Inside.] Silently, we take down the insurrectionists one by one, making our way to the top floor. The team stacks up by the doors, readying for the breach-&-clear. Cap signal us to scan the room. The HUD tags ten armed hostiles. The Marines are inside as well. Everyone gets ready. On Cap's mark, we breach the room. In perfect synchronization, we take out all ten targets without friendly casualties. Cap taps his comlink, "We got them. Heading toward the extraction."**

**[The Iliad, Atlantic Ocean]**

**The mission was completed without much of a problem. Sure, there was one snag, but it wasn't a big deal. What's important is that those Marines get to go home to their families. Cap is finishing up debriefing the mission to Robert Gonzales, the commander of SHIELD. The guy is a bit of a hardass, but he's a good man and a good commander. He's respected in equal measure as Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Phil Coulson. Cap exits the mission room, "Well, that's done with. Good work on the op." "Thank you, Sir. It was an honor working with you," I say. "Yeah, it was. Nat and Clint would've joined us, but Fury assigned them on a high priority mission," Karai tells Cap. "What mission is that?" he asks. Karai shrugs her shoulders, "Nat's on an op in Russia. Clint is working with Fury on a project."**

**[New York City]**

**Once we got back to the city, Karai and I have some R&R time with Cap. The man was still getting used to the modern world, but he was catching up fairly quickly. We stop at one of the best diners in Brooklyn. The J-Rabbit. **

**[J-Rabbit.] When we enter the restaurant, we're immediately greeted by the owner, Juna. "Hey, Corvo, Samus. Good to see you," She says joyfully, "When did you guys get back?" "A few hours ago," I tell her. "Grab any seat I'll be with you in a moment," she says. We take the table by the corner. The table has a clear view of all the exits. Out of force of habit, we surveyed the surrounding area, checking for possible threats.**

**After a short wait, Juna makes her way over to our table. Karai and I order our usual. Juna glances at Steve, who still hadn't decided. "What do you recommend?" He asks Juna. Juna clocks her head, thinking. "Well, that depends. Have you eaten Latin food before?" she asks him. Steve shoots a semi-nervous smile, "It's been a long while." "Ever had ceviche?" Karai asks. Steve looks at her in complete confusion. All three of us look at him with wide eyes. "Get this man ceviche," I say dramatically. Juna laughs at my antics as she leaves to get our order. "So, how does it feel to be back home after all this time?" Karai asks Steve. Steve is silent for a moment. "It's a culture shock. Everything's different. Completely unrecognizable to my Brooklyn," he says, looking out the window. It's obvious the man felt out of place, or in this case, out of time. He has been catching up on everything he missed in the last 70 years with the internet, books, and video documentaries. He got down the bare essentials. A mixed bag of good and bad. Most of SHIELD was surprised how readily he accepted the changes in today's world. Accepting women in combat roles, diversity, and LGBT. It's easy to forget due to the period, but Cap has zero-tolerance for any form of discrimination.**

**[Loki Odinson POV]**

**[Sanctuary, Space]**

**I watch silently on the side as The Other speaks with its master. "The Tesseract has awakened. It is in a little world, a human world. They would wield its power, but our ally knows its workings as they never will. He is ready to lead, and our force, our Chitauri, will follow. The world will be his, the universe yours. And the humans, what can they do, but burn?" The master he speaks with sits on his throne. For the first time, the titan raises and stalks toward me. He towers over me. He a mountain, and I am nothing but an ant. His sheer presence alone radiates a force of power that I dare say rivals or surpasses Odin himself. I force myself to keep my composure, though slightly failing. "Face me, boy," the titan orders. Despite the intimidation, slowly, I turn my head to face the man. His dark craze eye fixes on mine. "If you fail me or betray me, I will hunt you across the universe. I will burn your world, and I will subject you to horror and pain even Mephisto would deem cruel. Do you understand me, boy?" he says. "Y-Yes, Lord Thanos. I-I will not fail you," I say, shaking in fear.**

**[Nick Fury POV]**

**[Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, Mojave Desert, USA]**

**The helicopter I'm on flies over the facility. Down below, I saw the staff were starting to evacuate the area. The helicopter touchdowns on the helipad where Agent Coulson is waiting. Hills exits first while I follow right behind her. "How bad is it?" I ask Coulson. "That's the problem, Sir. We don't know," he tells me. The three of us travel to the lower level by elevator. [Lower-level.] "Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," Coulson tells me. We exit the elevator, walk to the main room where the Tesseract is being stored. "NASA didn't authorize Selvig to go to the test phase," I tell him. "He wasn't testing it. He wasn't even in the room. It was spontaneous," Coulson says. "It just turned itself on?" Hill questions. "What are the energy levels now?" I ask. "Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered an evac," Coulson says. "How long to get everyone out?" I ask. "Campus should be clear within the next half hour," Coulson tells me. "Do better," I tell him. He nods and walks off.**

**"Sir, evacuation may be futile," Hill says, still walking with me. "We should tell them to go back to sleep?" I ask sarcastically. "If we can't control the Tesseract energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance," she says. I sigh. 'That may be true.' "I need you to make sure the phase 2 prototypes are shipped out," I tell her. "Sir, is that a priority right now?" Hill demands. I turn to the woman, "Hill, until the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of phase 2 on a truck and gone." "Yes, Sir," Hill says, striding away.**

**I enter the room where the Tesseract is being stored, "Talk to me, Doctor. Is there anything we know for certain?" Dr. Selvig moves to me, "The Tesseract is misbehaving." "Is that supposed to be funny?" I ask, walking over. "No, it's not meant to be funny. It's not funny at all. But that what the Tesseract is doing. It's active," he says. "I assume you tried to cut the power?" I ask. "We did, but it turns it back on. If the Tesseract reaches peak level-" Selvig says. "We prepared for this, Doctor," I cut him off, "Harnessing energy from space." "But we don't have the harness," Selvig tells me, "It's throwing off interference, radiation." "Radiation?" I ask, looking back at the machine. "Low-level stuff. Nothing harmful. Low-level gamma radiation," he says. I peer back at Selvig, "That can be harmful. Where is Agent Barton?" "The Hawk? Up in his nest," Selvig points to the upper balcony. I tap my comlink, "Agent Barton, report." Barton fast-ropes down to ground-level, moves to me. "I gave you this detail, so you keep a close eye on things," I say to him. "Well, I see better from a distance," he says. We walk to the platform. "Did you see anything that might set this thing off?" I ask. "No one's come or gone. And Selvig's clean. No contact, no IMs. Whatever it is, it's not on this end," Clint says. I face the man with my one good eye, "'On this end?'" "Yeah, the cube acts as a doorway, right? The door opens from both ways," he says.**

**The Tesseract activates, releasing a surge of energy, causing a quick quake. The cube fires a beam of power to the center of the platform, opening a portal. There's a flash of light that blinded everyone for a moment. When our vision cleared, there's a man in a crouch position in the middle of the platform. He slowly raises to a stand. Every instinct of mine was telling me this man is a threat. The man attired in a dark green and gold getup. Similar to the Asgardians that visited Earth a few weeks ago. A security team enters, surrounds the unknown person, weapon train on him. "Sir, put down the spear," I order, keeping a hand on my pistol. The man looks at the spear, smiles, and fires an energy blast. Barton pushes me out of the line of fire. The security team starts to open fire on the Asgardian. The enemy hostile easily kills the agents with the staff. The man goes up to Barton. Barton tries to draw his weapon, but the man grabs hold of his arm, "Do you have a heart?"**

**The Asgardian places the spear onto Barton's chest. His eyes turn entirely black than an odd color blue. Barton holsters his weapon, then stands in attention, as if waiting for orders. 'Oh, shit.' As the Asgardian busy himself doing what he did to Barton to the other agents, I go to grab the cube. "Don't. I still need that," the man says. "This doesn't have to get any messier," I say. "Of course, it does. I come too far for anything else," he says. 'Well, I guess we're going with plan B.' "I am Loki, of Asgard," the man introduces himself, "And I am burdened with glorious purpose." "We have no quarrel with your people," I try. "An ant has no quarrel with a boot," he says. I frown at that, "You planning on stepping on us?" "I come with glad tidings of a world made free." "Free from what?" I question. "Freedom. Freedom's life great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart, you will know peace," Loki says. "Oh, great you one of those nutjobs. When you say 'peace,' I think you mean another thing," I tell him off. "Sir, Director Fury is stalling," Barton tells Loki, "This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rocks on top of us. He means to bury us." I tilt my head at them, smirk, "Like the pharaohs of old." "Well then, I suggest we make haste," Loki says. Barton shoots me in the chest.**

**The shot knocks me out for a short time; I pull the bullet from my vest. Grabbing the radio, "Hill! Do you copy? Barton turn. They have the Tesseract! Take them down!" I yell, running to the exit. Storming out the door, I dash toward the helicopter. We take off just in time as the facility crumbles. Flying over the desert, I spot the escaping vehicle. "Stay on that vehicle!" I order the pilot. Opening the side door, I open fire on them with an assault rifle. Loki, who's mounted on the back of the getaway car, fires an energy blast from his spear, taking the helicopter's tail, forcing us to crash. I duck out at the last second, roll to my feet and fire again, but they were too far gone. 'Shit.' "Director Fury? Director, do you copy?" Coulson calls through the comlink. "The Tesseract is with a hostile force," I say, "I have men down. Hill?" "Still breathing. A lot of our guys are still under. Don't know how many survivors," she says. "Sound a general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for the Tesseract," I say, "Coulson, get back to base. This is a level-7. As of right now, we are at war." "What do we do, Sir," Coulson asks. I sigh, "Assemble the team."**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

**[Nick Fury POV]**

**[1 day later, SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**"This is out of line, Director. You're dealing with forces you cannot control," One of the World security council members says to me. I force myself not to roll my eyes, "You ever been in a war, councilman? A firefight? You don't really have a lot of control." The councilman sighs in annoyance, "Are you saying this Asgard is declaring war on our world?" "No, not Asgard. Loki," I tell them. "This Loki cannot be working alone. What of the other one? His brother Thor?" the councilwoman questions. "Intel team has tagged him as non-hostile. He's worlds away. We can't depend on him to help either. It's up to us," I say. "Which is why you should be focusing your resources on Phase-2," Councilman Malick cuts in. The man is a little too eager to have phase-2 complete for my liking. "Phase-2 isn't ready. Our enemy is," I tell them, "We need to jump-start project AVENGERS."**

**[Karai POV]**

**[Mission-room.] I punch the wall, cracking the surface. "This is bull shit! Clint wouldn't jump sides!" I snap. "I know. It wasn't his choice. You read the report. Loki did something to him," Raijin says. My fists still shake with rage and concern, "It doesn't matter if it wasn't his choice. He's compromised. The higher-ups will blacklist him, and they'll send a team to cross Clint off." Raijin cross-arms, "They won't." I shoot my best friend and partner with a skeptical gaze, "How are you so sure?" "Because we're going to get to Clint first and bring him home, and take down that fuck Loki in the process," Raijin barks, eyes flashing with determination. "Does Nat know?" I ask. Raijin nods, "Yeah, Coulson told her." That moment, Fury and Cap walk into the mission-room.**

**On the main computer screen, Fury puts up an image of the Tesseract. "HYDRA's secret weapon," Cap murmurs. "Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you, Cap," Fury says, "He thought the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That something the world's sorely needs." Cap crosses his arms, "Who took it from you?" "A man named Loki," Fury tells him, "He's not from around here. There's a lot we're going to have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten a lot stranger than the world you knew." "At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Cap says somewhat bitterly. Fury looks him over a little sadly, "Ten bucks says you're wrong." Cap sighs, "We'll see." "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract we need to know now?" Fury asks Cap. "You should've left it in the ocean," He tells Fury. Cap faces us, "Get your gear together. We're out in 30." "Copy that, Boss," Raijin and I say to Cap in unison.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Atlantic Ocean]**

**[Quinjet.] "We're about 40 minutes out from home base, sir," the pilot informs Cap and Coulson. Coulson gets off the comms system and walks over to Cap and us. "Hey, AC, see Fury drag you into this op, too," Karai says. "Yeah. This is a level-7. All-hands-on-deck," Coulson says. "Shit, it's really that bad, huh," I say. He nods. "Bad enough to bring in Stark," Karai says. The venom in her tone is hard to miss. To say Karai and I weren't Stark fans is a massive understatement. Why? Well, we have our reasons. It wasn't too long ago Stark been known by another name, The Merchant of Death. I lost count of the lives that man destroyed with his weapons due to this carelessness and lack of responsibility. Funny thing is, he wasn't always like that. The death of his parents changed him for the worse. At least according to the people close to Tony Stark.**

**Cap is busy reading through the dossier on the other members of the AVENGERS. "So, this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the BIO-ENHANCER used on me?" "A lot of people were. You were the world's first living superhero," Coulson says, "Banner thought gamma radiation was the key to unlock Erskine's original formula." "Guessing Howard didn't tell him he broke the code," Cap says. "No. Never even met. At the time, Banner was working under a man named General Thaddeus Ross. A bonafide asshole in every sense of the word. Going by what Fury said, Howard Stark didn't like or trust the man. Neither did Fury," I say. Looking at the tablet's feed, "Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve says. "Not so much. When he's not the Hulk. Banner's like Stephen Hawking," Coulson tells Cap. Cap gives Coulson a confused look. "He's a brilliant person," Coulson explains, "I got to say. It's an honor to meet you officially?" Cap shoots him a friendly smile in thanks.**

**"I've sort of met you already. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping," Coulson tells Steve. We could see Cap is starting to get a little uncomfortable. It took everything Karai, and I had not laughed at what was going down between the two. "What Coulson is trying to say is that he was the salvage team when they fished you out the ice," Karai says, trying to help her old mentor. "Right. That," Coulson says. Cap nods in understanding, "I just hope I'm the right man for the job." "You are, Boss," I say. Karai nods in agreement, so did Coulson.**

**[SHIELD Helicarrier]**

**As we disembark the quinjet, we're met by Natasha Romanoff AKA the Black Widow. "Nat. This is Steve Rogers," Coulson introduces. "So, you're the team leader of Fury's new team. Nice to meet you," she says, shaking Cap's hand. Nat turns to Coulson, "Fury wants you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace." Coulson starts to walk off, "See you in a bit. Karai, with me." They both walk inside the Helicarrier. "It was quite the buzz around here about you three in the last few days. Especially you, Captain. Post ice and all. Did Coulson swoon?" Nat asks. "Yup. Fanboyed and everything. It was entertaining to watch," I say. "I'm sure," she says. Nat shifts to Cap, "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading card yet?" "Trading cards?" Cap asks. "They're vintage. He's very proud," she says, teasing like a little sister about an older brother.**

**Three of us cross paths with the man we were talking about earlier. "Dr. Banner," Cap calls. The man's attention falls on us three, then his eyes fall on Cap. "Yeah. Hi. They told me you would be coming," Banner says. He and Cap shake hands. "Word is, you can find the cube," Cap says. Banner looks around a little nervously, "Is that the only word on me?" "It's the only word we care about," Cap tells the man. Banner nods his head in thanks for not seeing him as a monster. "This must be strange for you, all of this," Banner says, indicating the Helicarrier. Cap takes a glance around, "Well, this is kind of familiar." I get the call that we're about to take off. I walk over to Banner and Cap, "Guys, we should start heading in. It's going to get a little hard to breathe." That moment the engines are starting to power up. "Is this a submarine?" Cap asks. "Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?" Banner says. Both of them step to the edge to see the massive rotors ascending the Helicarrier into the sky. "No, no, this is much worst," Banner says. I smile and make my way pass Nat, "See you inside."**

**[Bridge.] I move to Karai, who is at a computer station. Checking every possible sighting of Loki or Clint. "Any luck?" I ask my partner. "Nothing yet," she says. Karai looks over her shoulder, "The Helicarrier reminds me of a Sci-fi military starship you see in movies." "Still cool," I say. "I never said it wasn't," Karai comments. Cap, Banner, and Nat walked onto the bridge. Cap eyes around the bridge, completely amazed. Banner, however, is nervous. "Reflection panels are engaged," one of the tech guys call out. Fury turn to face Cap and Banner, "Gentlemen." Cap pulls out a roll of cash and hand Fury a ten-dollar bill. 'Least the man knows to honor his bets.' Fury shoots him a smirk and takes the bill. He walks to Banner, "Doctor, thank you for coming," holding out a hand. Banner takes the hand, "Thank you for asking. So how long am I staying?" "Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind," Fury tells the man. "Where are you with that?" Banner asks. Fury points to Coulson, who stands close by. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phone, laptop… If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us," Coulson says.**

**"That's still not going to find them in time," Nat says, hovering over a tech crew's shoulder to the screen. 'Hate it when people do that.' "You got to narrow the field," Banner says, "How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Fury folds his arms over his chest, "How many are there?" It was a rhetorical question. SHIELD could get access to as many as they needed. "Tell every lab, you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places," Banner tells everyone, "Got someplace for me to work?" Fury nods, "Agent Romanoff, please show Dr. Banner to his lab." She walks by Banner, "You're going to love it, Doc. We got all the cool toys."**

**I notice Coulson is asking Cap if he could sign his vintage trading cards set. I couldn't help but smile at the display. Karai notices as well, "Well, never thought I see Coulson fanboying." "Yeah, I know. It's nice to see this side of him," I say. "I heard a rumor he has a thing for Agent May," Karai says, catching me by surprise. "Wait. what?" I state, shocked. "As I said, it's only a rumor," Karai tells me. That moment the computer tags a sighting. "Got a hit on Loki," we both call out. "Location?" Coulson asks. "Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse," I say. "Captain. You and your team are up," Fury says to Cap. Cap nods, looks to us, "Raijin. Karai. On me." "Right behind you, Boss," Karai says.**

**[Stuttgart, Germany]**

**The three of us land onto a nearby rooftop. Karai quickly set her sniper rifle at the ready. Down on street level, civilians run out of a building in panic and fear. The target, Loki, right behind them. Two police cars drive down the street. Loki fires an energy blast, flipping the two vehicles. Suddenly another Loki appears in front of the running civilians, followed by another and another. Four Lokis surround the scared innocent civilians. "Kneel before me," he says. Out of sheer panic, they didn't hear him. Loki slams the staff to the ground, "KNEEL!" Slowly every person in the middle drops to one knee. **

**Loki grins, "Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state?" He starts to walk into the middle of the crowd, "It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave Subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." Karai growls, "I'm shooting this fucker in the eye." "Hold on," I say. An old man stands up in defiance, "Not to men like you." Despite the grin, Loki's eyes flash with rage, "There are none like me." The old man shakes his head, "There are always men like you." Loki raises the staff, "Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example." He fires. Acting fast, Cap jumps in front of the old man, blocking the shot with his shield. The blast ricochets back to Loki, sending him flying.**

**We both jump down to join Cap. "You know, the last time I was in Germany, saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing." "The soldiers," Loki hisses, "And the man out of time which leads them." "I'm not the one out of time," Cap says. The Quinjet comes flying in, piloted by Nat, "Loki drop your weapon and stand down." Loki fires on the Quinjet. The shot misses. Drawing my pistol, Karai and I shoot Loki in the center mass. The bullets had minimal effect on him. Cap sprints in close, engaging Loki in melee combat. Cap hit Loki with a solid right-hook-punch. Loki is stunned but still standing on his feet. Loki swings the staff at Cap, but he dodges the attack. Cap comes back swinging, hitting Loki with a combination of boxing strikes. The last blow is to the Asgardian's liver, then Cap hits him with spinning back kick to the chest.**

**In desperation, Loki pulls a sneak attack and hits Cap with his staff, sending him falling back. Cap gets to his knee, but Loki's on him, the staff at the ready. "Kneel," he orders. "Not today!" I yell, running at Loki, jumping in the air, and hitting him with a jump-elbow. The strike cracks Loki's lip. "Not pretty anymore, aren't you, fucker," Karai sneers. Loki gets to his feet, readying to go for another round. Suddenly our comlink is bombarded with a rock musical theme, followed by Tony Stark's voice, "Agent Romanoff. You miss me?" In his Iron Man armor, Tony Stark flies in, firing his repulsors at Loki, knocking him on his ass. "Make your move, Reindeer Games," Tony says, keeping his weapons train on Loki. Cap, Karai, and I move to him. "Stark," Cap says. "Captain," he says in return. Loki slowly raises his hands in surrender. Cap, Karai, and I all glance at each other thinking the same thing. 'This was too easy. Something was off.'**

**[Quinjet.] "Is he saying anything?" Fury asks over the comlink. "Not a word," Nat tells him. "Just get him here. We're low on time," Fury says, ending the call. Karai keeps her eyes on Loki. "I don't like this," Cap says to Tony and I. "What, Rock of Ages?" Tony retorts. I roll my eyes. "I don't remember it ever being that easy. The guy packs a punch," Cap clarifies. "Still, you pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?" he says to Cap. 'Leave it to Tony Stark to be a needlessly antagonistic asshole.' Cap peers at him, annoyed, "What?" "It's like calisthenics," Tony says, "You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a capsule." "Do yourself a favor, Cap, ignore him. It'll keep you sane," I say, "Or punch him the throat. That'll definitely get him to shut up." Suddenly there's heavy lightning outside. "Where the hell the lightning comes from. Are we crossing a storm?" Karai questions. Loki is physically shaking with anxiety. "What? Scared of lightning?" I ask. "I'm not fond of what follows," Loki says, cryptically. The quinjet jerks violently.**

**Looking up, the HUD tags one target. Tony quickly places on his helmet and opens the rear door of the quinjet. A muscular blond man enters, his body crackles with electricity. Iron Man aims his repulsor, but the large man quickly takes Ironman down with his hammer, sending him falling over Cap. The blonde turns to Loki, grabs him by the neck, and takes off flying. 'So that's what follows.' Ironman gets to his feet, along with Cap. "Another Asgardian?" Nat queries. "Is that guy a friendly?" Cap states. "Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost," Ironman says, walking off. "Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Cap calls out. "I have a plan. Attack," he says, going off after the two Asgardians. "And people wonder why we don't like him," I say. Cap grabs three parachutes, tosses two over to Karai and me, "We're going after them." "I'd sit this one, guys," Nay says. "Not going to happen. Loki's our collar. He's our responsibility," I say. "Plus, we need him to get Clint back," Karai interjects. "These guys come from legends. They're basically gods," Nat tells us. "There's only one god, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that," Cap says to her. The three of us leap out the quinjet.**

**[Wooded mountains]**

**As we come in for a landing, we watch as Ironman gets his ass handed to him by Thor. For the majority of the fight, Thor is tossing around Ironman like a rag doll. To our surprise, Loki is close by, not even trying to run away. I didn't like it. We land. Rolling to his feet, Cap tosses his shield, hitting both Thor and Ironman, "Hey! That's enough. Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here." "I've come to put an end to Loki's schemes," Thor tells him. "Then prove it. Put the hammer down," Cap demands. "Yeah… No. Bad call. He loves his hammer," Ironman says. Thor backhands Ironman with his hammer, sending him crashing to the ground. "YOU WANT ME TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN?!" Thor roars. Thor leaps at Cap, dropping the hammer down. Cap block the blow with his shield. The shockwave sends us all falling on our backs.**

**Regaining consciousness, I slowly get to my feet. 'Well, I'm going to feel that tomorrow.' "Is everyone okay?" Karai says. Everyone is now standing, facing each other. "Are we done here?" Cap asks Thor. The man peers at the super-soldier shocked that his shield stood against a blow from his hammer. "Aye, we are done," Thor says. I glance up to see Loki still hadn't moved. I fire a grappling line, pull him down to us. Karai taps the comlink, "Nat, we need a pickup."**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

**[Karai POV]**

**[SHIELD Helicarrier]**

**Once we got back, Cap hands Loki to the STRIKE commandos. We move toward the bridge. Through the computer monitor, we all watch as Loki is put inside a specialized prison cell made for the Hulk. Fury walks to a control terminal, "In case it's unclear. If you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass, it's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" He points to Loki, "Ant," indicates the control terminal, "Boot." "It's an impressive cage. But it is not built for me," Loki gloats. Fury peers at the man, "It's built for something a lot stronger than you." Loki smiles, then looks directly into the camera, "Oh, yes. The mindless beast that pretends he is still a man. How desperate are you, that you call upon lost creatures to defend you?" Fury glares, "How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and yet you kill for fun. You made me very desperate. You might regret that you did." Loki smiles mockingly, "It burns you to come so close to have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all humanity to share. And then to be reminded what real power is." Fury smirks, "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine." He walks off, leaving Loki alone in his cell.**

**"He grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner comments. "Yeah, like an unwanted parasite," I say, crossing my arms. "Loki going to drag this out," Cap says, tapping the computer screen, "So, Thor, what's his play?" Thor looks to the team, "Loki has an army called the Chitauri, they're not of Asgard, nor any known worlds. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." "They'll die trying," Raijin growls, cracking his knuckles. "An Army from outer space," Cap says, disbelief. "So, he's building another portal?" Banner questions, "That's why he needed Selvig." "Selvig? I know him. He's a friend," Thor says. "Loki has him under some kind of mind-control, along with one of ours," Nat says, referring to Clint. "I want to know why Loki let us take him," Cap chimes in, "He's not going to lead an army from here." "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag of cats. You could smell the crazy on him," Banner comments. "Careful how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother," Thor says, tone sharp. "Well, with all due respect, your highness, your brother is all level of fucked-up. The sicko killed 80 people in 2 days. So no, I'm not going have care with my worlds," Raijin snaps, cross-arms. There was an instant awkwardness in the air. "He's adopted," Thor murmurs under his breath, guiltily.**

**Banner quickly changes the subject, "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium. What do they need iridium for?" That moment Tony Stark walks in with Coulson. "Is a stabilizing agent," he tells us, "It means the portal won't collapse on itself as it did before. Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long." Stark and Banner start to speak in a way that completely goes over my head. "Finally, someone who can speak English," Stark says. "That was English?" Cap says. Both Raijin and I shrug our shoulders. Fury enters, "Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you can lend him a hand, Stark." "I would start with that staff of his. It may be supernatural, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon," Cap says. "I don't know about that, but the cube powers it. And I would like to know how he uses it to turn two of the sharpest men I know to his flying monkeys," Fury says. "I understand that reference," Cap says excitedly. Raijin and I hold back a laugh, but smirk.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[R&D.] I aim down the sight and fire. The shot hits its mark. Other targets appear, now moving. Loading a new mag, I shoot the targets. Each shot tags the targets with perfect accuracy. Karai walks in. I set the pistol I was using on safe, place it down in the holster. "You look irritated," I say. She coughs a bitter laugh, "Yeah. Let's say if I'd stayed in the same room with Tony Stark any longer, I would've shot him. What are you up to?" "Just killing time," I tell her. "Raijin, we've been best friends since we were kids. I know you better than anyone. I also know when something is nagging at you. What's up?" Karai asks. I sigh, punching a fist into an open palm, "Loki. Loki is bugging me. I can't shake the feeling he's not the mastermind behind this whole mess. The guy screams lackey. Someone else is the puppeteer." "The Chitauri?" Karai inquires. "Maybe," I say, "Or it could be someone else. If what Fury has been telling us is anything to go by. There are threats across the universe. Loki is not the only big-bad out there." I rub my hands across my face, "Or maybe I'm just seeing shadows." "I think you're worried about Clint. Hell, we all are," Karai says, placing a hand on my shoulder. There's a beep. "It's done," I say, walking over to the 3D printer. Karai looks to the 3D printer then back to me, perplexed, "What's done?"**

**"When Iron Man was fighting Loki, the HUD ran a full scan of his armor. Specifically, his repulsors." I pull out two pistols and hand one to Karai, "Repulsor pistols. Courtesy of Tony Stark." "But why take his spec?" Karai inquires, taking the pistol. "Because Loki shrugged off what we were throwing at him. But Tony's repulsors drop him on his ass. Plus, Tony Stark wouldn't give up the spec of his toy. His ego wouldn't allow it. He has to be the only one with the best stuff," I say, inspecting the weapon. I move to the shooting range, fire four shots at the target. I smirk, "Not bad."**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Banner's lab.] I walk into the lab to see Stark poking an electrical rod at Banner, trying to provoke the Hulk to come out. "The hell is wrong with you?! Are you out of your mind?!" I shout, striding over to them. "Jury's out," Tony says. He turns to Banner, "Wow. You do have a lid on it. What's your secret?" Banner ignores him and goes back to his work. I'm starting to get very irritated by this man with every passing minute. He acts like a child than an adult. This is Howard's legacy? I honestly don't know if he would be proud or ashamed. Granted, Howard Stark was no saint, but he was never like this. "Is everything a joke to you?" I ask Tony." "Funny things are," he says. I roll my eyes. 'Starting to understand why Raijin and Karai don't like you.' "Threatening the safety of everyone on the ship isn't humorous," I snap. I circle to Banner, "No offense, Doc." "It's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I handle couldn't pointy things." Tony steps away, "You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." "And you need to focus on the problem, Stark," I order. "You think I'm not?" Tony asks. "No. I don't," I deadpan, "I honestly don't think you understand the severity of the situation, or incapable of understanding it. Because if you did, you wouldn't be wasting so much time trying to piss him off and possibly getting everyone on this ship killed. Again, no offense, Dr. Banner."**

**That makes Tony go silent for a moment. He shakes it off. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation if I don't have all the variables," Tony says. Well, if Tony's file is anything to go by. The man's brash, arrogant, antagonistic, self-absorbed, insensitive, and a wild card. Plus, Natasha Romanoff wrote the man off as unfit for The Avenger program. As far as I know, Fury was just desperate enough to call him in. "You think Fury is hiding something?" I question. "He's a spy. Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secret has secrets. It's bugging him, too. Isn't it?" Tony says, then point to Banner. Banner shakes his head, waving his hand, "Um. Nope. I'm not involved in this conversation. Leave me out of this. I only want to do my work." "Doctor?" I call Banner's attention. Banner fidgets uncomfortably, then sighs, "A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube," he says. Banner gestures to Tony, "I think he was talking about you. Stark Tower, or rather the Arc Reactor. It was all over the news." "The Stark Tower? That big ugly building in New York," I say. Tony glares. "Hey, what I said is a lot nicer than what Karai said," I tell him. Banner cuts in, "The building's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will be running itself for a year. Maybe more." "It's a prototype. I'm kind of the only one in clean energy right now," Tony says.**

**"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him into the Tesseract project?" Banner says, "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?" "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking through SHIELD's secure files," Tony says, walking around the table. "I'm sorry. What?!" I start. Tony cuts me off, "Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. I'm a little surprised it took this long. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD tried to hide." I swallowed my anger back down, "Yet, you're confused why SHIELD didn't want to bring you around."**

**"An intelligent organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome," he says. "Not every secret is meant to be shared. But that's beside the point. I think Loki is trying to wind us up. This is a man who wants to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed." "Following is not my style," Tony says. "I'm fully aware of that. You're all about style, aren't you?" I state, trying desperately not to punch the man in the face. "Of the people in the room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and, B, not of use?" Tony says. He was starting to lose his temper, biting at any insult he can use. I sigh, "Do your job, Stark. Then you can happily leave the ship." I leave the room. Once I'm out of the room, curiosity got the best of me. I decide to take a detour to the R&D storage unit.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**Walking to the bridge, we cross paths with Nat in the hallway. "Raijin. Karai. With me," she says, not stopping her walk. We follow her to Loki's cell. The Asgardian prisoner didn't even notice. He stops pacing, "Impressive. Not many can sneak up on me." Loki turns to face us. "Good to know you got a blind spot," I say. "You knew we come," Karai says. "After. After whatever torture Fury can concoct with my aid," the God of mischief says. I tilt my head slightly, "Funny. I can't take the threat of torture seriously from a lackey. Can you?" Karai crosses her arms over her chest, "No, he's the bitch in the relationship. Tell us, your highness, who's pulling the strings of a king. I'll give credit where credit is due. You're smart, your strong, but you don't you give that aura that says 'I'm the man in charge.'" "In other words, a king who is a slave to another," I say. "YOU DARE! I AM A KING! A GOD! YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARE TO ME!" he yells, furious. "Both of you shut up," Nat snaps at us. We looked at her in surprise but did as she said. Nat looks back to Loki, "I want to know what you did to Agent Barton?" Loki composes himself, smiles, "I expanded his mind. Showed him the truth." Nat steps closer to the cell, "And once you won, once you're King of the mountain, what happens to his mind?" "Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" Loki asks. "Love is for children. I owe him a debt," Nat tells him. He looks over her shoulder to us. "We don't leave soldiers behind. With their shield or on it, we always bring them back," I say. Karai nods, "Not that you would understand that."**

**Loki grins, walks back to the bench. "Tell me more," he says to Nat. Nat shift nervously, "Before I worked for SHIELD… I made a name for myself. I have a particular skill set. I didn't care who I used it for. Got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Barton was sent to kill me. He made a different call." "And the two of you?" Loki asks, "I see no regret in your actions." Neither Karai nor I answer him. He turns his eyes back to Nat, "And what would you do if I vow to spare him?"**

**"Not letting you out," she says. Loki's smile widens, "No, of course not, but I like this. Your world is in the balance, and yet you three bargain for one soul." "Regimes falls every day," Nat says, "I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian. It's not that complicated. I got red on my ledger; I'd like to wipe it out." "Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov's daughter, São Paulo, the hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, gushing red," Loki says, getting up from his seat. Nat actually looks distraught. He moves to her, "You think saving one man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer. Pathetic! You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up the horrors. But they are part of you. And they will never go away."**

**Loki slams a hand over the cell's glass, causing Nat to flinch. "I won't touch Barton until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way, he knows you fear. And he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull. This is my bargain, you mewling quim," Loki says to Nat. Nat turns away from him. Karai and I place a hand over our pistol, waiting for the word, begging for it. "You're a monster," Nat says in a low voice. "Oh, no. You brought the monster." I smirk, 'That the play.' Nat drops the act and turns Loki, who looks at Nat, confused. "So, Banner. That's your plan," she says. Nat quickly taps her comlink, warning the others. Karai looks at Loki, "Wow. The God of mischief got played like a fiddle." "Thank you for your cooperation, asshole," I say, clapping my hands together, mockingly. Both Karai and I dash out the prison block.**

**[Banner's lab.] As we enter the room, the whole team is verbally at each other's throat, yelling at each other. Tony turns the computer screen to Fury, "Why is SHIELD building weapons with the cube?" Fury glowers, points to Thor, "Because of beings like him." "Me?" Thor says, confused. Fury elaborates, "In the last 20 years, Earth was attacked by three hostile alien forces. The Kree, the Skrulls, and our latest visitor, the Asgardians. SHIELD kept it under wraps. Not only did we learn we're not alone in the universe, but we are hopelessly and hilariously outmatched. We needed an equalizer." Thor jumps in, feeling a little insulted, "My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Karai rolls her eyes, "Weren't you listening. You're not the only one who came to Earth, and you're not the only possible threat out there. And your brother is proof not all Asgardians wants peace." "The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled," Fury interjects, "We needed something to give us an edge." "Nuclear deterrent. Because that always come everything down," Tony says, sarcastically. "Oh, that's rich coming from you, Stark. Remind us again how you got your fortune," I say, stepping over to him. Cap jumps in between us, "I'm sure if he were still making weapons, Stark would be neck-deep." "Hold on. How is this about me?" Tony says, getting angry. "Isn't everything," Cap, Karai, and I voice in unison.**

**Suddenly the bickering turns into a full-on shouting match. There's a pressure in my head. My anger is getting more and more intense. 'Why the hell do I feel this anger?' Something is wrong. "You speak of control, but you cause chaos," Thor says to Fury. "That's his MO, isn't it?" Banner says, "I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb." "First of all: that more you than us. Second: you need to step away," Karai says, stepping closer to him. "Why shouldn't the guy let off some steam?" Tony says, trying to place a hand on Cap's shoulder. Cap pushes it away, "You know damn well why. Back off!" "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me," Tony says, taunting Cap to fight. Cap smirks angrily, "Yeah. A big man in a suit of armor. Take that off; what are you?" "Genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist," Tony tells him. "You forgot brash, arrogant, antagonistic, self-absorbed, callous, egotistical, and a drunk," Nat inserts, "reason why I cross you off for the Avengers program." "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you fight for or care about is yourself. You're not the guy that makes the sacrifice, to lay on the wire," Cap tells him off, "You may fly around and pretend to be a hero, but you are not." "A hero? Like you? Your laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you comes from a bottle," Tony jabs. Karai starts to laugh, "Dude, you just piss because your daddy liked him more than you." Tony glares at her, "You want to go!" Cap quickly jumps in, "Don't you ever threaten my team." The situation is getting more and more out of control.**

**"Okay, everyone needs to take a step back!" I yell. The team is busy fighting among themselves; they didn't hear me. 'Shit.' The conversation between Banner and Fury catches everyone's attention. "Where? You rented my room to Loki!" Banner shouts. "The cell was just in case..." Fury starts. Banner cuts him off, "In case you needed to kill me, but you can't, I tried." That catches everyone off guard. "I got low. I couldn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spat it out. I moved on. I focus on helping people. Then the Canadian Department-H sent one of their best to kill me. Codenamed Wolverine, I think, nearly did kill me. But I got away. Then you guys dragged me into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret? You want to how I manage to keep it in control," Banner says, voice hard. Karai, Fury, Nat, and I all reach for our pistol. "Banner, put down the staff," I order, gun drawn but keep it pointing down. Banner looks at staff, perplexed. Like he didn't even realize he was holding it. He places it on the table and steps away from it. There's an alert coming from one of the computers. Banner makes his way to the main computer screen, "We got a hit." "Let me know where it is. I can get to it faster," Tony says. "The Tesseract belongs to Asgard. No human can withstand its raw power long," Thor warns. An explosion rocks the Helicarrier violently. Everything goes black.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[SHIELD Helicarrier]**

**I slowly get my feet. Feels like all the air was knock out of me. "Sound off!" I hear Cap calls out. "I'm good," I say. "Still alive," Karai says. Cap turns to Tony, "Put on the suit." He helps Tony to feet and guides the man out of the room. Karai and I look out the broken window where we saw Nat and Banner was thrown out of. Both are down. Nat's leg is pinned under a support beam. I turn to Banner. Behind me, I hear Fury asking Hill for a status report. Hill's voice echoes through the comlink, "External detonation. Number three engine is down." "Can we keep it running?" Fury asks, shaking off the blast effect. "Turbine looks mostly intact. But it's impossible to make repairs while still in the air," Hill tells him. "Stark, did you get that? Fury calls out. "Yeah, I'm on it," Stark says over the comlink. "Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section, then get to the armory," Fury orders. "Copy," Coulson says. The director of SHIELD looks around, "Where's Romanoff." "Lower level with Banner. They were blown out the window," I say, "She looks okay, but she's pinned."**

**I look back to the two in question. Natasha starts to regain consciousness, "We're okay." Banner is a different story. The man looks like he's struggling. And I don't think it's because of any injuries he might have sustained. 'Oh, shit.' Nat notices, "We're okay, right? Brue? You have to fight it. This is what Loki wants. We're going to be okay. Listen to me." Two Engineers comes around the corner. Karai and I signal them to get back. We already have our weapon out, ready to take out Banner if we need to. Nat continues to reassure Banner, "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this."**

**Banner, or the Hulk inside, snaps his head to Nat, "YOUR LIFE!" Banner starts to turn into his other-self. I quickly jump down, pistol train on Banner, lift the support beam off Nat's leg, "Can you walk?" "Yeah," she tells me. There's an ear-piercing animalistic roar. Both of us turn to see Banner is now gone. In his place is a giant green hulking rage monster. 'Oh, fuck.' "Run!" I shout, "Go, go, go, go." We dash down a narrow path with the Hulk right on our tale. I turn to face him and open fire. The shots have little effect on the rage monster. The Hulk tries to rush me like a bull, but I jump out the way, causing him to ram straight to a wall. Rolling to my feet, I throw a few sticky grenades at him. That at least knocks him back a few steps. Unfortunately, it also pissed him off even more. He charges with murderous intent. Just as he's right over me, Thor comes flying in, knocking the Hulk through a wall.**

**Thor and Hulk both get to their feet, staring each other down. Hulk strikes first. Thor holds the attack back, struggling, "We are not your enemy, Banner. Try to think! Loki is using you." With his free hand, Hulk punches Thor, sending him flying. "Hey, ugly!" I yell. Hulk turns. I slam my fist across his face with an energy knuckle. The green monster staggers, stunned, caught completely by surprise. He swings a few punches. I dodge the attempted onslaught, land a blow to his body and face, careful to keep out of his reach. The Hulk is definitely stronger and fast, but unlike him, I'm a skilled soldier. The green monster claps his hands together, hitting me with a shockwave, sending me slamming to a nearby cargo crate. The Hulk stalks to me, readying to finish me off. He stops his advancement as he is hit by a small explosive. It's Karai, shooting the Hulk with a grenade launcher, firing a shot with each step. Once she runs out of ammo, the Hulk bolts at her. From out of nowhere, Thor smashes Hulk with his hammer, knocking him to a jet fighter. Recovering, Hulk rips the wing off and hurls it at us. "Incoming!" I yell. We all leap out of the way. Thor throws his hammer. Hulk tries to catch it in midair; instead, the hammer knocks back down. Hulk jumps to his feet, tries to pick up the hammer, but couldn't. Flanking the Hulk, I leap onto his back, plant two explosive charges on his head, and jump off. The charges go off. The Hulk goes down. For a moment, I thought that I killed him. Not an outcome I wanted but necessary if need be. I stride closer to the down Hulk. The smoke clears, a large green hand reaches out and takes out of me. The Hulk puts me a bone-crushing bearhug. "HULK CRUSH LITTLE MAN! HULK BREAK LITTLE MAN IN TWO!" Hulk roars. "AARRRRRRR!" I yell out in pain. "RAIJIN!" Karai screams in panic. "BANNER, NO!" Thor shouts.**

**A familiar circular red, white, and blue disk strikes Hulk over the head hard, forcing him to break his hold. Karai quickly rushes over and drags me to the side. The shield goes back to the hand of its owner. Steve Rogers. Captain America. "You want to fight someone, Hulk, fight me," Cap challenges. The Hulk goes after Cap. Cap leaps over the Hulk; slam the shield down onto the back of the monster's neck. Hulk staggers, but Cap stays on the offense. He punches the Hulk in the nose's weak point, kicks him in the balls, strikes the shield across Hulk's face again, and sweeps his leg out from under him. That moment, a fighter jet flies into view, "CLEAR THE ZONE!" Knowing what the pilot meant. All four of us rapidly clear the area. Out the way, the fighter jet starts to open fire on the Hulk. With a roar, the Hulk jumps onto the fighter jet. It pulls away fast. I realize it's a tactic to get the Hulk off the Helicarrier, due to him being the most significant threat. Each of us split up to deal with the enemy strike force attacking the Helicarrier.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**I get to Engine-3 just as Tony is clearing out the last piece of debris. "Stark, I'm here," I call out. "Good. Let's see what we're dealing with," Tony says, "I got to get the Superconducting coolant system back online before I could access the rotors, I need to work on dislodging the debris that's caught in a rotor. Cap, I need you to get to the engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position." I jump over to the next platform to the control panel. Sliding the panel open, I immediately realized I was extremely ill-equipped for the task. 'Should've had Karai do this.' "What does it look like in there?" Tony asks through the comlink. I drop my head down, "It seems to run on some form of electricity." "Well, you're not wrong," Tony says. It took me a moment, but I figured it out and did the task. "Okay, the relays are intact. What's the next move?" I shout out to Tony. "Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump-start," Tony says, "I'm going to have to get in there and push." "If that thing picks up speed, you'll get shredded," I warn. "On the opposite side of you, there's a red lever. It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it. Wait for my word." I leap to the lever Tony was talking about.**

**Two enemy soldiers barge in. The one in front tosses a grenade to engine-3. Acting fast, I jump in the air, smack the projectile to the open air. Landing near them, I hit the lead with a right-hook-punch, knocking him out. The second guy, I quickly disarm, then throw him off the Helicarrier. A third soldier intrudes in, firing his assault rifle. I hold up my shield, blocking the oncoming bullets. Drawing my pistol, I double tap the man, killing him. "Cap, now! Hit the lever now!" Tony calls. "I'm on it," I say, pulling the lever. Tony escapes the rotors, flies over to my location.**

**[Karai POV]**

**Raijin goes to help a group of trap engineers on the lower level. I dash to the detention section where Loki's located. When I come around the corner, my blood turns ice cold. Thor is trapped in Loki's cell. I scan the area, gun aim. Coulson's there. Just as I was going to call out to him. Loki appears from behind and impales Coulson through the back with the spear. My whole body goes rigid. I couldn't move. Time itself felt like it stopped. Loki tosses Coulson's body to the side like a piece of meat. No care at all. Loki walks to the control panel. He punches the switch, sending the prison cell dropping. Through the whole thing, my eyes are focused on Coulson's lifeless body. 'MOVE, DAMN IT MOVE!' I yell to myself internally. Loki spots me, surprised and concerned, more for himself than anything. I train my pistol on him and fire everything I had. Loki is hurting but still standing. I drop to grab Coulson's BFG and shot him with a massive plasma blast. The shot sends Loki flying through an iron wall. Loki takes the opportunity to make a run for it. For a swift moment, I debate whether to go after Loki, but he wasn't my central priority. I dart back to Coulson. Gently I turned a man over. His white shirt is crimson red. 'Oh, god, oh, god.' "It's going to be okay, Coulson. We're going to patch you right up," I say, more in the attempt to convince myself,**

**I place my hands over his wound to slow the bleeding. "I NEED HELP! MEDIC!" I yell into the comlink, "Keep your eyes open, Coulson! Stay with me! Don't you dare die on me!" Coulson smiles sadly, "It's okay, kid. It's okay. I'm clocking out here." "No! Old man, open your eyes. You're still in this fight, soldier!" I yell. My words fell on deaf ears. The light in Coulson's eyes fades out. That moment, Fury rushes in with a medical team. Despite his stoic expression, I can see the emotional storm he's going through. Slowly, I get to my feet. My eyes burn with tears, I force myself to hold it back but barely succeeding. Found myself rubbing my hands on my pants, desperately trying to clean it of Coulson's blood. I storm out the detention section. Once I get out the outside, I saw Raijin. I run over to him and throw myself in his arms. The word about what happened to Coulson quickly spread. Everyone who knew him is taking the hit hard. But for the time being, we had to soldier on. Loki was still out there, and we had a mission to finish.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Mission-room.] Everyone is gathered. Well, almost everyone. Fury is fondling with a deck of cards in his hand, "These were in Coulson's jacket." He places the bloodstain cards on the table, "Guess he didn't have a chance to ask you to sign them." I reach for one of the cards. The card has an image of me in my old uniform during my show days in the 40s. Raijin and Karai both smile sadly at a distant memory, but it's gone as quickly as it came. "We're dead in the air. Our communication, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor… I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming," Fury says. The man sighs, "We were going to use a tesseract to build an arsenal. That much is true. Like I said earlier, we need an equalizer in this new form of war. Did I feel the need to share that information? No, I did not. And I'm not sorry for it. But I never put all my chips on that number, though. Truth be told, phase-2 was a last resort. An option I hope never to use. I was playing something riskier. There was an idea. Bring together a group of individuals, unite them to become something more, to fight the battles beyond our limits, to protect and defend the world and its people against all threats. Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes." Tony gets up from his seat and walks out of the room. Raijin and Karai glare after him, but say nothing. "Well, it's an old-fashioned notion," Fury says, clipping his hands behind his back.**

**Found Tony in the detention section. The PARAGADES follow behind me. Crossing my arms, I sit on the stair handle, "Was he married." "No. There was a cellist he was dating for a while," Raijin says, "I don't think it was anything serious." Despite the stoic exterior, I could see Raijin is battling with his emotions internally, same goes for Karai. "He was an idiot," Tony murmurs. Both Karai and Raijin snap their heads to the billionaire, glaring at the man hatefully, hands clenched into tight fists. They look ready to beat the man to death. 'Damn it, Tony! Are you serious, right now!' Acting fast, I step in front of them, silently telling them to stand down. They did. I turn to Tony, "Why would you say that about the man?" Tony sighs, regretfully, "Coulson should've waited for back up. He was no match for Loki." "The man was doing his job," I say, "Like any other soldier, he knew the risk. For some people, it's better to do something than nothing at all. The first time you lost a soldier?" "We're not soldiers," Tony snaps. "Correction. You're not. We are," Raijin growls, rolling his eyes. "Either way, I'm not marching in Fury's fight," Tony tells us. "Fine. Don't. You know where the exit is. Get your suit and GTFO," Karai snaps, walking out the room. Raijin scoffs, "I may not like you, but I'm willing to work with you if it helps complete the op. You want off this boat? Fine. Help fine Loki; we'll handle the rest, and you can go back stroking your ego." He follows his partner out of the room.**

**"They don't like me very much," Tony says, once the PARAGADES are gone. I shake my head, "No, they don't. In their defense, you did insult their mentor and friend. Considering how things could have gone, you got off easy. Putting that to the side, Loki's still out there, and we need to find him. We know he needs a power source for the tesseract. If we put a list together, we might be able to narrow it down." "He made it personal," Tony says, abrupt. "Yeah. It's personal now for everyone," I say, a little confused at what he was getting at. "No. That's Loki's point. He could've hit us at any point. He had a better chance to take us out divided. No. Loki wants to beat us, but he wants to be seen doing. He wants an audience. Loki's a full-tilt diva… Son of a bitch. He's going to New York City. Stark Tower," Tony says, running out the room.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**I follow Karai to her living-quarter. She sits down on her bed, head cast down. I park myself on a chair opposite her. There's long silence. It's nearly deafening. Karai takes a long breath. "We're going to get Loki, and we're going to make him pay," I say to my partner. Karai lays her head in her hands. Absently she takes my hand in hers. She hates feeling vulnerable. Hates the lack of control. She's hurting, same as me. Coulson wasn't just our mentor and friend. After Fury, he was- is the closest thing we had to a father figure. On Karai's dresser counter, there's a photo. It was of me, Karai, and Coulson. Karai and I were posing jokingly. Coulson remained collected and calm but still smiled. I smile at the memory. 'We weren't going to have that anymore…' There's a knock on the door. Cap steps in. Clint and Nat are right behind him. Both of us get to our feet. "Gear up. We got Loki's location."**

**[Armory.] Cap grabs his shield and places it on his back. Clint readies his bow and arrows. Nat puts on her stingers, settles two Glock pistols in her leg holster. Karai sets her custom assault/sniper rifle. I prepare my repulsor pistol, grab the assault rifle, smack a new ammo meg in. Following Cap, we make our way to the hangar bay to a parked quinjet. The technician inside goes over to us, "Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be here." "Son, don't," Cap says authoritatively. The technician glances at all five of us, nervously. A man seems like he's about to piss himself. He quickly steps to the side. Nat jumps into the pilot seat. The quinjet takes off. Ironman goes on ahead of us.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[New York City, USA]**

**By the time we reach the city, all hell has broken loose. A squadron of alien creatures is chasing Tony. "We're coming up northeast of you," Nat tells Tony. "What? Did you guys stop for drive-through? Swing up. I'm going to lay them out for you," Tony says, frustration leaking through his voice. Tony flies across us, followed by the squadron. Nat opens fire on them with the mounted mini-gun, taking multiple targets down. We jet skyward. On the roof of Stark Tower, Thor and Loki are duking it out. Loki cheap shot Thor, doubling him over. Aiming the staff, Loki blasts us. The blast severely damages the quinjet's left-wing. We start to go down. "HOLD ON!" Clint yells. "THIS IS WHY I HATE FLYING!" I exclaimed, holding onto the handle. Both Clint and Nat take the controls and make a hard landing in the middle of the street. Seeing that everyone is okay, we start to exit the quinjet. Scanning the surrounding, saw that we crashed a few blocks out from Stark Tower. "We need to get back up there," Cap says, running off. The team goes after him.**

**As we enter the open street, we see the gaping portal in the sky. 'The Chitauri.' A large snake-like creature emerges from the gateway. From its body, it ejects various humanoid-like cybernetic creatures to the surrounding area. The creatures are flying over us start to open fire on the civilians on the ground. "We need to get the civilians off the streets. They're in a kill-zone down there," Cap says. Chitauri foot soldiers advance on us. "Contact!" I yell. Both Karai and I fire on them, drop six. Clint shoots a split-arrow, killing three Chitauri soldiers.**

**"You think you two can hold them off?" Cap asks Hawkeye and Black-widow. "Yeah, we got this," Clint says. Cap glance to Karai and myself, "On me." The three of us spring to action. We leap to the lower street-level, dodging explosions. We get to the police. The NYPD is desperately trying to hold their ground against the Chitauri forces, but they're overwhelmed. We heard one of the officers say it would take an hour for the military to arrive. "Do they know what's going on here?" a second cop says. "Do we?" the first one questions. Cap, Karai, and I vault over the line of destroyed cars and land in front of the police officers. The police point their weapons at us, but we ignore that. "You need men in these buildings. There are people inside, and they're going to be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basements, or through the subway. You keep them off the street. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th," Cap tells the police officers. The sergeant looks at Cap like he escaped the loony bin, "Why the hell should I take orders from you?"**

**Cap didn't have time to argue because the Chitauri starts to attack. The flyer swoops low and drops ground troops close to the police line. Cap blocks a blast and inaugurates to battle the closest Chitauri. A small squad flanks us. Acting fast, Karai and I shoot. One breaks through and comes at me on my left. Grabbing the alien, I throw it down onto its back, pin it with my foot, and double-tap it. Without another word to Cap, the police sergeant starts calling orders into his radio, saying everything Cap told him. I couldn't help to smile at that. Cap didn't stop to gloat. We link back up with Clint and Nat. The five of us take down as many Chitauri as we could. Even so, we're close to being overwhelmed. Lighting strikes out of a clear sky, decimating the Chitauri in the area. Thor drops down in front of us. He looks wounded and tired. The five of us sigh a breath of relief to see it wasn't another attack force or Loki. "What's the story upstairs?" Cap asks. "The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable," Thor tells him. "Thor's right," Tony says as he zips by overhead. "We got to deal with these clowns first," I say. "How do we do this?" Nat asks. "As a team," Cap says to all of us. "I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor state. "Yeah? Well, get in line. I'm next after Clint," Karai says to the God of thunder. "Save it," Cap orders, "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that what we need. Otherwise, those things could run wild. We've got Stark up top-"**

**He breaks off as a motorcycle approaches. It's Banner. "So… This all seems horrible," he says, walking over to us. "Pretty sure most of us have seen a lot worse," I say. "Sorry," he says guiltily. "No. I think he means we could use a little worse," Nat tells Banner. "Is Banner with you guys?" Tony questions over the comlink. "Yeah. He's with us," Cap says. "Then tell him to go green. I'm bringing the party to you," he says. Iron-Man swoops around a building, and right behind him, the enormous armored Leviathan, shattering the corner building as it pursues Tony. "I- I don't see how that's a party," Nat says in semi-nervousness. Iron-Man drops down low; the Leviathan follows, smashing cars and street-lights out the way as it bore down on us. Banner turns to the creature, walks forward. "Dr. Banner," Cap calls, "Now might be a perfect time to get angry." "That's my secret, Captain," he says over his shoulder, "I'm always angry." At will, Banner starts to transform into the Hulk. As the Leviathan ducks his head toward him, the Hulk brings his fist down on the creature's head with a booming crunch that shakes the bridge. The Leviathan's head digs into the street surface. Another Leviathan quick swings around a building, coming right at us like an unstoppable juggernaut. Suddenly it's blasted apart by a beam of energy. Everyone looks toward the source. A masked woman in a red, yellow, and blue combat-suit lands in front of us, hands glowing with an aura of energy. "Anyone called in the Air Force," she says. Cap smiles, "Carol Danvers. Fury said he called you in. Better late than never." All over the city, the Chitauri stops and screeches in sudden shock. We look around. All nine of us are finally together as a unit. 'Coulson would be proud.' Karai looks up into the sky, "Guys?" We all peer skyward. More Chitauri forces pour through the portal. 'The fight was just getting started.'**

**"Call it, Cap," I say. "Alright, listen up. Until we close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, you're on overwatch, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, Danvers, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back, or you turn it to ash," Cap says. Hawkeye turns to Iron-Man, "Give me a lift?" "Right. Better clench up," Tony says, wrapping an arm around Clint and rockets up. CM following close behind. Cap goes on, "Thor, you got to bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lighting. Light the bastards up."**

**Thor swings the hammer in a tight circle and flies off. Cap turns to Black-Widow, Karai, and me, "Us four stay on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk?" The Hulk turns to him, growls. Cap gave the green giant a straightforward order that he'll follow, "Smash." The Hulk bares his teeth in a smile and leaps away. We saw Thor fires a massive bolt of lightning at the portal, taking down multiple targets in the process from the ground. It gives us a little breathing time. Spot a pack of Chitauri gathering a group of civilians. They line them up in an execution line. I dash over, knee slide to a firing stance, shoot six shots to the heads. "Run! Head toward the police line!" I yell to the scared civilians. They start to make a break for it.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[35th street.] With a squad of ESU, I cover emergency personnel as they evacuate a restaurant full of innocent civilians and move them to the subway. An ESU gets hit. The man's dead before he hits the floor. 'Damn it.' We're losing ground fast. I jump-roll to the side, fire on the Chitauri. Despite how many I put down more take their place. A beat cop gets tagged in the chest, but her vest manages to save her by some miracle. She's trapped behind a car as it's being peppered with shots. Using my enhanced strength, I flip a car to its side and move to the pinned officer, two ESUs following. Once they grab her, we fall back. At that moment, four military Humvees speed down the street. The lead fires a 50 cal at the advancing Chitauri forces. Marines exit the Humvees, quickly setting up a barricade. I caught a glimpse of one of Marine's name tag. Castle. Seeing that the situation is now under control, I slip away, heading back to Cap and the others.**

**Raijin, Cap, Nat are fighting a hard battle against Chitauri forces. A Chitauri ground soldier tackles Raijin, his LVOA-S rifle sliding across the ground. Grabbing the Chitauri, Raijin draws his pistol, unloads rounds into the creature's head, gets to a kneeling position, and clips four more targets dead. Walking over, I toss his weapon back to him. "Thanks," Raijin says. We head to Cap and Nat. Both Avengers are holding their own. Nat looks at Cap, panting, "Steve, none of this is going to mean a thing if we don't close that portal." Cap nods in agreement.**

**We all look toward the sky-beam. "Our biggest hitters couldn't punch through the barrier," Cap says. "Well, maybe it needs a scalpel rather a hammer," Nat suggests. I think we know what she's getting at. "If you want to get up there, you're going to need a ride," Cap says. Nat eyes a passing Chitauri flyer, "I can get a ride. I could use a boost, though." "You sure about this?" Cap asks. Nat gauges the distance and speed of an oncoming flyer, "Yeah. It'll be fun." She runs and jumps onto Cap's shield, and Cap flings her into the air. Nat catches the bottom of the Chitauri craft and is gone, riding it out of sight. A shot nearly hits Cap. Going back to back, Raijin and I start returning fire. Cap throws his shield, taking out five Chitauris. Both Iron-Man and CM jets in, doing a sweep run, clearing out a group of enemy tangles.**

**Getting in close, I push back a Chitauri soldier, place an explosive charge on its persons, push-kick it to a group. The charge detonates, taking six with it. Raijin punches the butt of his rifle across the face of a Chitauri, arm-throws it to the ground, stumps the neck, aims the gun at the approaching squad, guns them down. The team fights with everything we have, but the Chitauri just keeps on coming. The enemy is slowly but surely is gaining the upper hand. There are thousands and thousands against nine AVENGERS and a hundred or so US soldiers. Despite the odds, we fully intend to fight to the last man. Just as hope seems lost, Nat's voice echoes through the comlink, "Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" "Do it!" Cap replies immediately. "No, wait!" Stark calls out. "Stark, these things are still coming!" Cap argues. "There's a nuke coming in. It's going to blow in less than a minute, and I know where to put it," Stark says.**

**From the ground, we all watch as Tony guides the nuke straight to the sky-beam. "Stark, you know it's a one-way trip?" Cay says. "Yeah," he says. "I may not like you, Stark, but you are a hero," I say. "Can I get that in writing," he jokes. Iron-Man disappears into the portal. All of the Chitauri forces suddenly fell to the ground as if they were switched off. Every single one of them. Even the Leviathans. "Close it," Cap says, regretfully. At the last second, before the portal winked out of existence, Iron-Man fell out of the gateway. "Son-of-a-gun," Cap says, a smile across his face. But something isn't right; Tony isn't slowing down his fall. From out of no-where, Raijin catches Stark and grapples him safely down to ground-level. My partner lays Tony down onto his back. The team rushes over to the two. "Is he breathing?" Cap asks. Thor rips off the faceplate. Tony didn't move. HUD scan shows his heart stopped. Acting fast, I grab Raijin's shock knuckles. Setting the charge to the max, "Clear!" I say. Jab the shock knuckles over Tony's chest. The man gasps, and his eyes shoot open. "What? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me," Stark says. "No, no one kissed you," Raijin says, "We leave that honor to Pepper." Even in a moment like this, Tony still makes jokes. "We won," Cap says. "All right. Good job, guys. Have you ever tried Shawarma? There's a Shawarma joint about a few blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I want to try it," Tony says. Thor looks to Stark Tower, "We are not finished yet."**

**[Loki POV]**

**[Stark Tower, New York City]**

**I failed. I failed. But worst I lost the Tesseract and the Scepter. He will seek me out. Subject me to monstrous torture, I cannot begin to fathom. It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. I quickly piece together a scheme I can use to prolong my survival. I may be a god, but an immortal I am not. Despite the severe pain, I manage to put myself together enough to get out of the hole in the floor. Painfully I drag myself toward the door. Never had a mortal damaged me as much as the green monster did. My wounds would head, it'll take some time. Once I'm fully recovered, I will have my revenge. I hear a noise behind me, rollover. There they stand. All of them, along with one new face. The AVENGERS all peer down at me, each aiming a weapon. Sigh. I know when I am defeated. Maybe if I let Thor take me back to Asgard, I could put some distance between Thanos and myself.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[2 days later, SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Room.] The media have been recovering the story for the last two days. They dubbed the event 'The Battle Of New York.' The US government wanted to try to keep it under wrap, but that wasn't going to happen. Primarily due to every civilian who had a smartphone caught it on video. The world finally knows two critical pieces of information. We're not alone in the universe, and things got a lot weirder. 'Hell, of a coming-out party.' A few politicians were already pointing blame to the AVENGERS. The election is only a few months away; most of these shit-flakes are trying to win some early points with the voters. On the other side, a vast majority of people calling the AVENGERS heroes. The savers of New York. News outlets interviewed people we saved. All of them showed their support and appreciation. Karai walks in, "We're about to hand-off Loki to Thor. Want to join?" "Don't even need to ask," I say.**

**[Cellblock.] Karai and I stand side by side in front of Loki's temporary cell. Not a single word is shared between us. This time around, all the confidence and bravado Loki had before is gone. The God of mischief is scared. Genuinely fearful. It's not an act whatsoever. But he wasn't afraid of us. "You think I am a monster?" Loki says, abrupt. "No. You're a murderer and a traitor," Karai hisses. Surprisingly, he didn't smile, "I am. But trust me when I say this, mortal, I am nothing compared to the true horror that lies beyond your realm." We didn't get the chance to question him on what he meant as SHIELD STRIKE commandos come in to collect him.**

**[New York City]**

**The team meets up in Central Park to make sure Loki, Thor, and the Tesseract got off-world and back to Asgard. What Loki said earlier keeps playing on repeat in the back of my head. 'I am nothing compared to the true horror that lies beyond your realm.' Thor looks to each of us and nods in thanks, "Until we meet again." Thor takes hold of Loki, and they both disappear in ray for light. We chat for a short while until it's time to go. Karai and I stride to Steve. "Really need to work on your fashion sense, Boss," Karai jokes, see how he dressed. We're so used to seeing him in his SHIELD uniform; it was hard to see in anything else. He smiles, "Yeah. I've been told I dress like an old man. Granted, I'm in my 90s." We laugh. "So, what are you going to do?" I ask. Steve glances around, "Travel. I've been asleep for 70 years. I missed a lot. I guess I want to find myself. See where I fit in all this." Karai and I nod in understanding. "You?" he asks. "The crusade goes on," I say simply. "Hey, if you need us, call us," Karai tells Steve, "See you around, Boss." Everyone goes their own way, for now.**

**[Nick Fury POV]**

**[SHIELD Helicarrier]**

**As long as I could, I held off the World Security Council, not wanting them to feed me bullshit about me disobeying their orders. But eventually, I was going to have to answer their call, and they were not going to be happy. Plus, I wanted to give the AVENGERS a head start. Enraged, the Council had demanded the AVENGERS to be placed directly under their command. 'No way in hell that's going to happen.' I'm an old dog that knew a lot of tricks. One of them is knowing better to trust a group like the World Security Council. After all, they went behind my back and tried to nuke New York City. Wolves in sheep's clothing. "I'm afraid I can't do that," I tell council members. I can feel Malick's rageful glare burning at me. 'Really don't like that guy.' "Where are the AVENGERS now?" another Councilperson asks. "I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts," I say. A lie. "And the Tesseract?" the councilman presses. "It's where it belongs: out of our reach," I say. "That was not your call to make," Malick says, ominously. "I didn't make it," I say, "I didn't argue with the God that did." The only thing I did take back was the scepter. It's too much of a risk to have two artifacts of immense power close together. So I made the call to store it in a highly secure vault. Completely off the grid. "So, you let him take it and the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crimes?" the councilwoman says. "Oh, I think he will be," I tell her confidently. "I don't think you understand what you started, letting the AVENGERS loose on the world. They're dangerous," she tells me. "They surely are. And the whole world knows it. Every world knows it," I say. "That the point of all this? A statement?" the councilman asks. I lean in a little closer to the video monitors, eye each of the World Security Council members, "A promise." I break off the call and return to the bridge. There's a lot to do before this ship is combat-ready again. "Sir, how does it work now?" Maria Hill asks from her station, "They all went their separate ways, some pretty far." I beam a small smile, "They'll be back together." "How can you be so sure?" she asks. "Because they're AVENGERS. It's what they do," I say, getting back to work.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[6 months later, New York City]**

**Jumping and running the rooftops on patrol; Epyon, a crime/emergency alert system, tags an op. Both Karai and I take it. [On-site.] In stealth-camo, we stakeout a warehouse. The HUD scans the area, picks up 20 armed targets. Karai taps my shoulder and points toward the four incoming SUVs and a van. A man in a stylish suit exits the vehicle, a team of armed mercs at his side. The mercs unload four human-sized pods. "Raijin, there are people inside those pods," Karai whispers. The pods are giving off strange energy. "No, not just people. SUPERS. These guys are human trafficking SUPERS," I say. Going stealth, we infiltrate the warehouse.**

**[Warehouse.] The traffickers load the pods into a cargo container. "You'll have the products by the end of the day," the head trafficker says into his phone, eyeing the pods, "Yes. Just as you ordered." Karai and I pick off all of the hired-guns one by one, leaving only the leader left. "Status report," he says into his radio. No answer. "Hey! Report!" he yells. Without making a sound, I sneak up behind the goon and quickly grab onto him, turn him, tag him in the jaw with a right-hook-punch, then front-headlock-drop him to the ground, knocking him out cold. Karai makes her way toward the cargo container and opens it. Slowly, she walks over to the pods. "How are they?" I ask from outside the container. "They're alive, but they're in some type of stasis," Karai tells me, "Should call it in. Let SHIELD's egghead team deal with it." Suddenly both of us hear a beeping sound. It was coming from the pods. The realization hit us like a sack of bricks. 'Oh, shit.' "BOMB! GET CLEAR! GET CLEAR!" I yell, grabbing Karai and throwing the both of us to the ground. The four pods explode, no doubt killing the four individuals.**

**We get to our feet, watch as the container, and the four pods inside burn in flames. "Damn it," I mutter in regret. My danger sense triggers. I peer up to the upper-level catwalk. There stands a masked man in a high-tech combat-suit, looking down at us, taking our measure. He and I stare each other down. "Who the fuck are you?" Karai hisses. "Code-name's Drake," he says, plainly. Without warning, he leaps down to ground-level, and dash in for an attack. Acting fast, we dodge back. Drake throws out a hand, grips my head, and drives it to the ground. I'm shocked by how strong he is. Taking hold of the man's arm, I kick him hard in the face, forcing him back. I jump to a stand and rush to him. The other guy stands his ground. With little effort, Drake hits me with multiple powerful blows in quick succession. The last strike's a left-elbow to face. It rocked me hard. Felt like Cap's shield hammered me with full force. Out of nowhere, I'm close-lined. The blow sends me flipping to the ground. Karai rushes in, firing her pistol. Drake closes in fast, grabs her weapon, disarms her, and hits her combo of strikes. Taking her back, he back-hip-throws Karai to the ground. "Ow," Karai grunts in pain. That moment a spotlight flash on us. It's SHIELD. Drake looks toward the craft than to us. Even if I couldn't see Drake's face, I know he's grinning. He switches on the stealth-camo and disappears. SHIELD vehicles converge on us.**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Office.] When we get back to HQ, we give Hill a full report. "So, you witness a group of mercenaries human-trafficking POWERED individuals?" Hill asks. "Yeah. We were going to call it in, but we were attacked by that lone merc," I tell her, "Drake." "SHIELD got any info on this merc?" Karai asks. Hill shakes her head, "No. All we know is he appeared on the scene two years ago. Skilled, deadly, enhanced, and psychotic." Karai and I glance at each other. 'Great. A psycho.' "Putting that to the side. Why were we brought in? An op?" I ask. Hill sighs, "You have to ask Coulson." Karai and I look at the woman in confusion. "What?" we say in unison. That moment a figure emerges from within the dark corner of the office. Our eyes go wide. "Welcome to level seven," he says. We both get to our feet, still staring at the man in disbelief. He smiles, "Sorry, that corner was dark, and I couldn't help myself." Karai slowly walks over to the man, holding her hands to her mouth. She pokes the man's arm with a finger to make sure she isn't hallucinating and then throws her arms around the man. After a short moment, she pulls away. "Explanation. Now!" we both demand. **

**"Fury faked your death to motivate the AVENGERS?" I question. "Well, not necessarily faked it. I was dead for about two and a half minutes," Coulson says. "The death of a common ally is a particularly effective team builder," Hill comments. "Once I got out of the ICU, Fury placed me in a grass shack in Tahini. Been there for the last six months." "Are you going to tell the rest of the team," Karai inquires. "Fury already told them. Understandably they were upset at first but got over it quickly," Coulson says, "For the reason why I had you two brought in? I'm putting a team together. We'll be running ourselves, picking the ops, and making the calls. No red tapes." "Deja vu," I say, smiling at a memory, "We're in."**

**A few hours later. [Observation room.] SHIELD pulled Grant Ward in from an op in France. He has been chasing an arms dealer who got a hold of alien tech. "Since the Battle of New York, terrorist and criminal organizations across the world scrambled to get a hold of alien tech left behind after the battle. A few fell through the cracks," Coulson tells us. 'Well, shit.' Arms crossed over her chest, Karai turns her head to Coulson, "Is Ward on the team." "Considering it. Why?" Coulson asks. "By his reputation, the man's considered a major asshole," She tells him. I look through Ward's file and hand it to Coulson, "Seem Hill shares the same view, Karai." I point to the drawing, "Is that supposed to be poop?" "Hill has a sense of humor?" Karai questions, shocked, "And here I thought she was all business." Coulson rolls his eyes as he leaves the office to meet Ward and Hill; we follow behind him.**

**Coulson talks to Ward as we make our way to the mission-room. The monitor within the room displays a feed of a SUPER jumping out of a burning building, carrying a woman. "What is that?" Ward asks, eyeing the feed. "That's a superhero, Agent Ward," Coulson tells the man, arms-crossed. Behind a computer, Hill says, "An unregistered POWERED individual. Identity unknown." A female voice begins to speak over the footage, "The secret's out. For decades your organization stayed in the shadows, hiding the truth. But now we know they're among us. Heroes and monsters. The world is full of wonders..." "A little present from the Rising Tide," Coulson explains. Hill interjects, "Agent Coulson is requisitioned a mobile command unit, to which you are assigned, Ward." "The Rising Tide is trying to draw us out. I think it's time they succeed," Coulson tells him. "You want me to cross them off?" Ward says. I sigh in vexation, wave off what Ward said, "Chill. If the Rising Tide were a real dangerous threat, we would've crossed them out a long time ago." Coulson jumps in the exchange, "I want to use the Rising Tide to get to him. This man's world is about to get very weird. He's going to need help." "Plus, he may even be a possible target," Karai comments, referring to the human-trafficking of SUPERS.**

**Ward looks between Coulson, Hill, Karai, and me, "I'm sorry. I was trained from day one as a specialist. I go in alone. I get it done. Defusing a nuclear bomb, I'm your guy. A welcoming committee? Not my speed." Karai rolls her eyes. 'Wow. Aren't you full of yourself?' Thankfully Coulson drops him down a notch or two but still insists for him to join the team. That moment a doctor and a white lab coat walks in, "The team has been approved. Physicals are all fine. The PARAGADES and Agent Ward are almost too fit." "We keep active," Karai says, smirking. Ward, however, tries one last thing to get out of the op, "That's an issue. That should be an issue. Maybe I can't join the team-" Hill ignores his protest, "You're dismissed, Agent Ward." With an irritated breath, he leaves. "So, are we heading out now?" I ask. "Not yet, I got one more person I want to recruit. I'll meet up with you two on the bus," Coulson says. "Copy," I say. We make to the exit, wondering who's the last recruit.**

**[1 day later, SHIELD Airfield, New York City]**

**Drive up to a large black plane in the hanger on our motorcycles. We make our way toward the open ramp. Inside, spot a man and woman bickering with one another as they were unpacking their gear. By their accent, they're British. Ward is already on-site, which was a little surprising. The agent drops his bag, grabbing the other two attention. The two jerks at the sudden banging thud. "Fitz-Simmons?" Ward calls out. The woman points to the man next to her, "Fitz." The man indicates a thumb to the woman, "Simmons. I'm engineering. She's biochem." Fitz-Simmons notices us behind Ward. Kara gives them a wave, "Karai." She Gestures to me, "This is my partner. Raijin." I nod to them. A red car parks onto the ramp. Lola. Coulson's pride and joy.**

**Coulson leads Ward, Karai, and I to the main cabin of the plane. "This mobile command unit was in heavy rotation back in the 90s, but we got a Helicarrier," Coulson drops some SHIELD trivia. He was trying to lighten the mood with a joke, but Ward killed the moment. Despite the mood-kill, I find it amusing. Agent May walks out the cockpit, "If you plan to unpack, make it quick. Wheels up in five." 'She's the last recruit. Should've known Coulson would've wanted her on the team.' Coulson turns to Karai, "Think you can track the Hacker's whereabouts." Karai places her hand over her chest in mocked hurt, "The fact that you question my skill is hurtful. Give me two minutes, and I'll have the target." She walks off to get to work. After a minute, Karai calls out, "Our hacker's in Colorado." Coulson peers at Karai, me, and Ward, "Who wants to tag along for a pickup." Curious to meet this hacker, I volunteer. Karai does the same. Ward's more hesitant since he didn't want to be on the op in the first place but reluctantly goes.**

**[Colorado]**

**[City.] The four of us follow the GPS to a parked van in an alleyway. HUD tags one person inside. Female. No weapons or traps. Getting closer to the vehicle, we can hear the girl speaking. "How will you come to us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us this time? How can you? The truth is in the wind. It's everywhere. You cannot stop the Rising Tide. You will not find us. You will never see our faces. But rest assured, we will rise against those who shield us from the truth. And nothing, nothing can stop us-" I cut the hacker off as I open the van's side door. The hacker, a woman in her early twenties, spins her head around, shocked, "Hey. What up?" "Sup," I say, tilting my head at her. Karai throws a bag over the girl's head and cuffs her.**

**[SHIELD BUS]**

**[Interrogation room.] Karai guides the hacker to the chair, uncuffs her hands, and pulls off the black bag. "You guys are making a big mistake," she says. "You don't look big," Ward says. The girl nervously moves a strand of her hair from her face. "Sorry for the lack of finesse. Our people have a little history with your group- The Rising Tide," Coulson says. "I don't know-" the hacker starts, but I stop her. "Stop. Lying to us won't do you any favors. And trust that we'll know. We can do this in one of two ways," I say. Now the hacker cuts me off, "Oh. Is one of them the easy way," she sasses. "No," I deadpan with a harsh tone. It's an act. We have no intention of hurting this girl. She looks away a little scared, "Oh." "What's your name?" Karai asks. "Skye," she tells us in a small shaky voice. "What's your real name?" I ask.**

**"That can wait. There's another name we need. A certain hero," Coulson says to her. Skye forces a brave face, "What makes you think I know that?" "Well, you made a mistake. The phone you use to record the hooded hero has the same cryptographic signature as a few of the Rising Tide posts," Karai says. Skye forces a smile, hiding behind the bravado, "Wow. Yeah. Was that a mistake? Or am I now sitting in your secret headquarters? I got inside. And by now, you discovered you couldn't beat my encryption on my equipment." "Oh, no, we did. You just didn't have anything useful. But if I had to guess, you got a backup setup. Like any good hacker would do," I say. She swallows a lump, worried.**

**"We also have a fairly strong coincidence. You being on the scene right before the building went up in flames. Want to tell me what my team is going to find out? How did you know the hooded man was going to be in the building?" Coulson probes. "Did you blow the building to draw him out?" Ward accuses. Skye's brows frown, "What? No! Did you?" "That isn't our style," Coulson tells her. "Your style just kidnaped me?" she snaps, "SHIELD covered up New Mexico, Project Pegasus. Of course, you'd be covering up Centipede."**

**Everyone looks at each other. 'Centipede?' Skye quickly catches our reaction, "No way. You don't know what that is. Billions of dollars of equipment at your disposal, and I beat you with a laptop I won in a bet?" 'Well, that's impressive.' "Skye, you need to think about your friend right now. We're not the only one who wants to find him. He's a SUPER. You want us to get to him first. Because the others guys will exploit him at best, dissect him at worst," Coulson says. For a moment, she seems like Skye's going to talk. But a frustrated and impatient Ward screwed it by pushing too hard. He leans in over the table, "What is Centipede?!" The young hacker shuts down and stays quiet. 'Damn it, Ward.' Coulson gets up from his seat, walks to the door, anger written all over his face, "Ward, a word." Karai sighs, arms-crossed, "Guess we're doing this the hard way." "Yup," I say, cracking my knuckles.**

**Coulson and Ward come back into the room after a short wait, a black box in hand. Coulson holds out a small bottle, "This is QNB-T16. It's the top-shelf martini of sodium pentothal derivatives. It's a brand new and extremely potent truth drug. The effect only lasts about an hour." Skye tries to get up from the chair, but Karai holds a firm hold on her shoulder, keeping her in place. "And you'll have a nice little nap," Ward says. Coulson jams the syringe into my arm, drugging me. "OW! What the hell?" I yell. "I'm sorry. Did that hurt?" Coulson says. "No. Yes. Fuck! I thought you were going to stick Ward," I complain. Karai laughs, "Look, you don't trust us. I get that. But we need you to. For your friend's sake. Ask him whatever you want." The three leave Skye and me alone.**

**She removes her jacket. "Wow, you are gorgeous," I say suddenly, "Okay. That was extremely inappropriate. Sorry." The girl's cheeks flush crimson, letting out a slight giggle. Skye gets up and leans down on the table beside me. "Have you ever killed anyone?" she asks. "Yes, lots of people. Evil people who've hurt and killed innocents," I say, "I'm a PARAGADE, Soldier, and crusader." "Do your parents know about the thing you do?" Skye questions. "No. Don't have any. I'm an orphan," I tell her. She looks at me with a new light in her eyes.**

**[Karai POV]**

**Coulson and I watch the exchange between Skye and Raijin through the security camera. I side-glace Coulson, "Did you really drug my partner with truth serum?" He smirks, "Even if I did, would it work?" I don't say anything, knowing the answer. A short while later, Skye exits the interrogation room and makes her way over to the two of us. "Did Raijin give you anything?" Coulson asks, looking at my unconscious partner through the security feed. "Told me enough. I think I like your style," Skye says. I pull the image of the latest new report to the main screen, "What about his?" The feed shows a picture of a POWERED person attacking a factory manager. Skye shakes her head, "This is wrong. This is not the guy I met. He was… He just needs a break." "Then give him one. Help us bring him in before he hurts anyone else. Because if he does kill someone, we have to put him down," I tell the young hacker with a harsh tone.**

**Skye places a stolen ID of Mike Peterson onto the holo-table. "Michael Peterson. A factory worker, married, one kid. Gets injured, gets laid off. Wife jumps ship. Good guy, bad break. Best guess is, somebody tells him they can make him better again, strong, make him super," Coulson says to the whole team. Raijin stands next to me, crossed-arms, still a little piss about being stuck earlier. "Who has the tech to do that?" May asks, "And why would they want to?" 'Probably the same group Drake is working for.' Raijin shoots me a silent side-look, he's thinking the same thing. "Fitz, what do we have from security footage before the blast?" Coulson asks. Fitz pulls up a video feed of a man arguing with a doctor or scientist. "Unfortunately, this was all we got. The data is completely corrupted," he says. "What if you had the audio? I was surveilling the lab. I had my shotgun mic pointed at the window before the blast. The digital file's in my backup drive in my van. Too much background noise from me, but you can probably clear it up," Skye says. "Agent May will escort you," Coulson says. Both Skye and May make their leave.**

**[Lab.] Standing behind Jemma Simmons, I watch as she examines a weird tech piece, she found in the blast zone wreckage. "The alien metal wasn't the explosive?" I ask. "Well, I assumed from the break pattern and dispersion that it was, but it's just dripping with gamma radiation and- OH! Okay, now it's literally dripping. Fun," Jemma says, cutting the tech. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. Coulson did the same. Raijin's eyes Fitz stumbling across the lab, trying to hold by his laughter at the man's awkward exchange with the hacker over the comlink. That moment Ward enters the lab. By the man's face, he's upset about being benched. 'Well, that's what you get for being an asshole' "What we get?" he asks. "Skye's sending us her audio file," Fitz tells him. Fitz moves to the other room. A 3D holo image of the man and the doctor/scientist appear within the hangar. "Is the explosive in the case?" Ward questions, impatiently. "Let it play out, and we'll find out," Raijin tells him. Fitz punches the play button.**

**"Please calm down. Just let me check your vitals," the doctor/scientist says to the man. Now that the image was cleaned up, we can see the man looks sick, like a junkie. "I feel fine. I WANT TO FEEL MORE! WHERE'S THE DOCTOR?! WHERE IS SHE?!" the man demands. "If you don't settle down, I'll have you sedated," the doctor/scientist tries to reason with him. The man grabs a nearby chair and slams it over a table.**

**"Go back to where he raised his arm," Coulson orders. Fitz did as he was told and freezes at the image. "What does that look like to you?" Coulson asks everyone. I look at the device on the man's arm, "A centipede." Jemma steps up, "It's an intravenous filter for his blood. This goo, Sir, has some compound similar to Dr. Erskine's BIO-ENHANCER. The scan is reading alien metal, gamma radiation, and other things. Every known source of superpower thrown into a blender." Coulson turns to Fitz, "We need to see the origin of the blast." We watch the recording play out. Turns out there was no bomb. The man was the bomb. "Extremist," Coulson says with dread, "This version is new. Unstable." Jemma sighs sadly, "Poor man. And Mike has the same stuff in his system." "And judging by his strength level, a lot more," Ward says. Fitz faces them, "Any minute now, Mike can-" I cut Fitz short, "If he goes off, he'll kill everyone in a two-block radius." "We're going to have to put him down," Raijin says, not liking the option.**

**[Living area.] Ward, Raijin, and I start to gear up and ready our weapons. Fitz and Simmons come around the corner. "Sir? The man didn't explode because he was angry. The two are connected. It's kind of a chemical surge. But calming Mike down will buy him a minute at most. He will detonate within the next few hours," Simmons tells Coulson. "Solution?" he asks. "Isolate him. Get him away from people," Simmons says. "Or?" Coulson inquires. With regret, Fitz says, "Put a bullet through his brain." Simmons adds on, "If he dies, the irradiated metabolic process will stop." Coulson glances over to us then back to Fitz and Simmons, "Give me a third option. One that doesn't involve Mike's son losing a father." "We have a couple of hours at most. There's no way we can-" Simmons tries. "Don't ever tell me there's no way! It's on you. Get it done," Coulson snaps off. The duo walks out. May's voice comes in through the comlink, "He took Skye." Coulson's lips form a thin line, "You alright?" "We'll deal with that later at length," May tells him, "Right now, we need to figure out where they went." Raijin walks over to Coulson, "Fair warning, Coulson. If Fitz-Simmons don't come through. I will take Mike out. I'm not willing to sacrifice hundreds of lives for one person." "Same," I say. Coulson didn't like it but understood. That moment the computer pings a GPS location. Striding down the stairs, we hear Fitz panicking over a computer. "We're being hacked," he yells. I rush over to him, "No. It's Skye. She's sending us her GPS location." Coulson rushes toward the four-door car, Raijin, Ward, and me right behind him.**

**[Union Station, Colorado]**

**Guns at the ready, we make our way to Skye's van. HUD picks up three people inside. One of them is a little kid. Coulson holds up a speakerphone, "Mr. Peterson, good morning. We're not a threat. We're here to help you. You're in danger, and we need to take you in. Please surrender peacefully." There's a long silence. Suddenly the door flies off the van right at us. We all jump out the way. Using the distraction as his advantage, Peterson grabs Skye and the little boy and darts into the building. Raijin and I go after him.**

**[Inside.] Chaos erupts in the main lobby. People are running in a panic. It sounded like a fight is taking place. To my surprise, the little boy runs right toward Coulson. 'Least he's out of danger.' Moving through the crowd, I saw Ward being thrown to the ground by Mike, knocking the air out of the man. Spotting Skye trying to escape through the back exit, he leaps to her. A cop emerges from the other door; without warning, he starts to fire his shotgun. "Hold your fire!" I yell. Mike kicks the door open and runs out, taking Skye with him. The cop chases them down. I tap my comlink, "Coulson, we got another player in play. Male. Dark hair. Caucasian. In a police uniform." Suddenly there's gunfire. It's coming from the other side of the station. Raijin and I make a break for it. Coming to the other side of the station, Mike comes crashing down to a store stand. Mike gets to his feet, skin glowing red. Coulson slowly walks over to him, putting his gun on the ground. Behind Coulson, Raijin and I keep our gun train on the man.**

**"Putting down your gun doesn't mean anything. You got guys all around me, waiting to put me down," Mike says. "You're right, we do. But we don't want to hurt you. You have a poison running through your body. The same poison that made another man exploded," Coulson says. "I'm not like that other guy!" Mike yells, "I'm a good person. A hero." "Then be a hero, Peterson. Think of your son. He would want us to help you. Look at yourself. You're burning up," I say. "You took him from me!" he yells, voice breaking, "You think this thing is killing me? All over, people are being pushed down, being robbed. One of them tries to stand up; you have to make an example out of him." 'He's losing it.' "You drop this building on us, will that help?" Coulson asks. "That's a lie! All you do is lie!" Peterson snaps, "They said if we work hard, did right, we have a place. That said, it was enough to be a man. But there's better than a man. There are gods. And the rest of us. What are we? They're Giants. We're what they step on." Coulson steps closer to Mike, "I know. I've seen giants. Up close. And that privilege cost me. Nearly everything. But the good ones. The real deal. They're not heroes because they have what we don't. It's what they do with it. You're right, Mike. It matters who you are."**

**A gunshot. Everyone looks to the shooter. Raijin. Next to him stands Fitz. "He'll live," Raijin says. Simmons dashes over to Mike and confirms he's alive, just unconscious. Everyone sighs a breath of relief.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[1 week later, SHIELD Airfield, New York City]**

**From the cargo hold, we watch Skye exits her van. "Hey, no joy rides. This is my house," Skye tells one of the flight crew members. She makes her way over to us. "Coulson convinced you to join his band of mavericks," I joke. Skye beams a smile, "Yeah. I want to see where this yellow brick road takes me." Karai looks between the two of us, smiles, and jumps off SUV's hood, "Well, I'll see you back at the bunker." That grabs Skye's attention, looks at the both of us, "Wait, you're not coming with us?" "No, not on this op. We got another thing to deal with here," I tell her. "Oh," Skye says, disappointed. Karai pats Skye on the shoulder. I wave a hand bye to Skye, "See you in a few days."**

**[New York City]**

**Karai is in front, jumping and running the rooftops. I follow close behind her. We stop on a roof on 14th street. Been patrolling the city for nearly 6 hours. A stomach starts to growl. Karai's. "Hungry?" I ask. "Starving," Karai tells me. Both of us jump down to ground level and head to a diner located down the block. [Diner.] Sitting at a table, we each give our order to the waitress. A cup of coffee for me, a plate of home fries with sausage for Karai. After a short wait, the waitress comes back with our orders. I take a sip of my coffee. Karai stops eating and asks me something that catches me by complete surprise, "I think you should ask Skye out?" Nearly spit out my coffee. I take a moment to gather myself, "Wait, what?" She laughs at my reaction, "It's only a suggestion. Don't need to get all bent out of shape over it. Besides, you two get along pretty great." I breathe slowly, "Karai, you know I don't have the best track record in romantic relationships. Not built that way." "Not with that attitude, you're not," she says, waving me off. I roll my eyes. That moment, Epyon tags an op. We bolt out the door.**

**[Vaas POV]**

**Late in the evening, I make my way toward the train station. I never like taking the train so late at night, but to get out of the cold, I'll deal with it this once. 'Really need to get a car.' I wait in the middle of the platform. Bored, I pull out my phone and glance through a few social media sites. The latest article on the AVENGERS catches my eyes. The superhero team has been a hot topic on every news outlet since they appeared during the Battle of New York. A lot of people had an opinion on them. A mixed bag of good and bad.**

**As I read the article, four men walked down the platform, clearly drunk or high. I ignored them. One of them made an obscene comment about my butt. Roll my eyes. Looking up, one of them walks over to me. The man enters my personal space. I take a step back. "Hey, isn't it a little late for a lady like yourself to be alone at the train station? It could be dangerous," he says. Despite his word of caution, I could sense him eyeing my body lustfully. Subconsciously I hug myself a little, "Can you please step back you're in my personal space. And it's making me uncomfortable." The man grins, "Oh, come on, baby. You look like you need some company. Hell, I'll make you feel good." "Yeah, no. I don't want your type of company," I hiss, placing a hand into my pocket for the pepper spray in case he tries anything. Without even noticing it, the other three flank me; one is holding out a phone recording. "Um, why are you recording me?" I ask nervously.**

**At that moment, the man who stands on my left sucker-punches me in the face, knocking me to the ground. I draw out the pepper spray, but a goon grabs hold of my hand and yanks the spray away. Tears started running down my face, not sure if it was from the pain or fear. Going full-on fight or flight, I begin to kick. They backed away, giving me the time to run for it, but the man who punched me seized me by the waist and towed back to his gang. "Noo!" I cry. The man restrained both my hands behind my back.**

**I try to break myself free, but he's too strong. The leader of the four-man gang walks over, licking his lips hungrily. He leans in, sniffs, "Oh, you smell so sweet. I'm going to take my time with you." My eyes go wide in terror as the thug starts to undo his pants. 'Oh, god, no! Not this! Not this!' Suddenly the lights in the station began flickering; then darkness fell on the station. It's pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. In the dark, I hear grunting of pain and impact sounds. When the lights came back on, three out of the four men who attacked me were battered, bleeding, and broken. Standing over them is an unknown masked man in a black combat-suit.**

**The last remaining thug threw his arms around my neck and placed a gun to my head. "Stay back!" he yells. The masked vigilante doesn't move; he just crosses his arms and cocks his head. From the corner of my eyes, I see a flicker of movement from what looks like a near-invisible shadow. The shadow grabs the goon's gun hand, breaks his wrist, then back-arm-throws him to the ground, knocking the man out cold. The shadow deactivates the invisibility cloak, revealing a masked female vigilante. "Are you alright?" the masked woman asks. I nod frantically, tears streaming down my cheeks, "Yes. Oh, thank god for both of you. If you hadn't shown up, they would've…" I couldn't even bring myself to say what would've happened to me. "The police and paramedics are on their way. Go to street-level and wait for them," the masked male says. The vigilantes both switch on their invisibility cloak and exit the station as the cops hit the scene.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Rooftop.] The police throw the four gang members into the back of the police van. My comlink rings. Karai stretches herself out, "Well, that was fun. Beating down a pack of would-be rapists never gets old." I smirk, "Yeah, nice takedown, by the way." "I aim to please," she tells me. Epyon tags another op close by. We head out.**

**[On-site.] [Rooftop.] Got a call to a bank robbery in progress. That's a brow raiser. 'Who robs banks anymore?' The HUD scans the building, picks up multiple armed gunmen, and there're hostages in play. As Karai and I are about to make a move, we're attacked from behind. Rolling to my feet, I train the gun at the attackers. Five individuals in combat-suits stand over us. "Who the fuck are you?" I ask. "Your end," the lead says. The five assassins attack. Dashing back, Karai and I open fire on them. But their armor manages to protect them from the shots. I dash in close, grab hold of the assassin, throw him face-first to a nearby wall, hit him with two body blows, then back-suplex the man to the ground. A ninja with a bow staff takes a swing at Karai's head. Karai ducks her head draws her pistol, then shoots the attacker twice in the stomach. At that range, the shots shred through the assassin's body armor. The big one of the five storms at me; slams his shoulder into my body, I crash to the ground. Quickly get to my feet. Another ninja reels his sword, nearly cutting my head off. Moving out of the ninja's reach, I shoot the man in the head. His mask/helmet managed to protect him but still stunned. I trap the goon's arm, knee his gut, break his arm with a jump-armbar. From out of nowhere, the big ninja seizes hold of my leg and launches me. I hit the ground hard, "Ow." Karai rushes over to my side.**

**The ninjas make their way over. I get to my feet, hands up, ready to go for another round. A masked figure lands down in front of me, blocking the assassins' path. The man was wearing an all-black getup with red linings. It's the vigilante of Hell's Kitchen. Daredevil. A ninja bolts a Daredevil, aiming to strike him down with his sword. DD easily dodges the attack, then hits the ninja with a quick combination of punches. Jab, cross, uppercut, right-hook. Together Daredevil, Karai, and I engage the ninjas in combat.**

**I go for the big one. The guy's a tank but slow. He swings a massive haymaker. I block the blow, go under his arm, take his back, put him in back-choke-hold, knocking him out. DD fires a grapple line at a ninja, pulls him forward, and hits the would-be killer with a powerful jump-knee to the face. The ninja with the broken arm tries to attack Karai from behind, but she sees him coming. Leaping into the air, Karai spin-back-kicks the man in the face, laying him out cold. "Thanks for the help," I say to the masked vigilante, looking over the fallen assassins. "I was in the neighborhood," he says in a gravelly voice. Karai wanders toward one of the down assassins, studies their equipment, "They're using the same gear as the mercs from another week." "The same crew Drake's working with?" I question. Karai nods, "Whoever this group is, they got some serious backing. This is high-end military-grade gear." I sigh then glance at the bank. The HUD shows all the gunmen in the bank are out cold. "Your handy work?" I say to the black-clad vigilante, pointing to the bank. DD simply nods. Six months ago, we first crossed paths with Daredevil when we tagged-up to take down a gang of corrupt cops. After a short exchange, we go separate ways.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[1 day later, Bunker, New York City]**

**Walking to the living room, I find Raijin talking to Skye over video chat. "I'm glad everyone made it out okay," he told the hacker. "Yeah. It was touch and go for a while. But we manage to pull through," Skye says, "Is this an everyday occurrence in SHIELD?" Raijin beams a smile, "More or less. What? Regretting your choice already?" "No. Just a little overwhelming. But exciting," Skye tells him. Raijin crosses his arms over his chest, "Still can't believe Camilla Reyes went dark." "You know her?" she questions. "I know of her. She and Coulson had a nightly arrangement back in the day," Raijin says. "Nice. Also, I didn't need to know that," Skye tells him, "Oh, just to let you know Ward was assigned to be my SO." Well, I didn't see that coming. "Really? I would've thought he assigned May," Raijin says. I walk up behind him, "May's not taking any roles. SO assignment included. Hell, she specifically told Fury she didn't want to take part in any combat op." "Why? Isn't she supposed to be the Calvary?" Skye asks. I raise an eyebrow, "Skye, if you want to keep the ability to breathe on your own, never call May the Calvary in front of her. She hates that title with a burning passion." "I'll say. She gave Ward a terrifying death glare I ever saw when he slipped out the name," the hacker says, a hint of concern in her tone. It sounds like something May would do when agitated. Changing the subject, Skye starts to ask about our op. Raijin tells her just enough to fill her curiosity. Skye starts fangirling when Raijin tells her we crossed paths with Daredevil. Like most, Skye knew about DD only by reputation. Clearly, she respected him for what he does for the city. To her, the world needs more grounded heroes. After another short while, Raijin ends the call. "She's so cute when she's fangirling," I comment. My partner shakes his head.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Zion, New York City]**

**The day has been relatively quiet. Hardly any action has gone down. It was nice to some level of peace. Some would call it being normal. Normal is such a subjective word. Being a vigilante and a soldier. The crazy is my normal. Just the rest of the world finally caught up. After hours of patrolling the city, I decided to take a break. I stop at an Inn called Zion. Relatively to the rest of NYC, Zion is a neon-clothed oasis. As I enter the bar, murmurs and hush conversations wash over me. The residents raise their heads, take my measure, and go then back to their business. This is the kind of place where everyone knows your name but keeps to themselves. I park myself at the bar table. One of the two bartenders is a striking woman sporting a black tank top. Her exposed arms and chest were inked with beautifully drawn tattoos. The name tag read Nicole. "Nice ink," I compliment. She smiles, "Thanks. What can I get you?" "Something heavy and hard in a clean glass," I tell her. Nicole nods in amusement, "Oh, hard-cases. I like that. Okay, hard-cases, I'll get you something stiff." She moves to make the drinks. A short while passes, and she returns with the drink. The drink is the right mix of bitterness and sweetness. It goes down easy.**

**Zion was initially a sleazy slum block run by the Viceroy gang. It was a shithole, with flickering lamp lights and faded colors. Filled to the brim with tired-eyes prostitutes and gangbangers with shark miles. One of the first Viceroy controlled territories I took down with Karai.**

**After a while, a commotion at the back of the INN catches my ear. Curious, I go check it out. Entering the backroom, found a man getting overly touchy with one of the girls. It was clear she wasn't into it. The woman pushes the man back hard. Being drunk, the guy lost his footing and fell to the ground. Now angry and embarrassed, the man gets to his feet quickly, raises a hand to strike the girl. In a flash, I get the man's arm in a hold, hyperextending it behind the man's back. The man starts shouting out in pain. "Last, I checked when someone says no, it means no," I growl, "Get out of here and don't come back." Holding his injured arm, the man dashes out the exit. I turn to the woman, "You good?" She sighs, "Yeah. Thanks." I head back to my table. The bartender Nicole comes, place down a coffee cup, "I hear coffee goes well with that drink. It's on the house. My thanks for helping Zoey out." She goes back to work, attending the other denizens. Someone taps my shoulder and takes a seat at my table. To my surprise, it's Skye. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in South America?" She smiles, "I never said I was still in South America. Grounded due to repairs for the giant hole on the side of the plane. We'll be in New York for a few days."**

**Skye looks to the crowd behind me, "Nice display. Knock that creep down a few notches. Might actually think twice before getting handsy with anyone else." I raise an eyebrow, "You saw that?" The girl nods, "Yup. The growl was a nice added touch." I turned away, hoping my face wasn't beaming red. That moment the TV at the bar catches my eyes. On the screen shows a large bald man in a stylish suit. "Don't think I've ever seen that guy before," I say. "The guy on the TV? That's Wilson Fisk. A philanthropist. He's the CEO of Union Allied Construction," Skye tells me, "Hell, he's one of the main companies overseeing the reconstruction of the Westside following the damage caused during the Battle of New York. The signs are all over Hell's Kitchen." "Been a little busy to notice," I deadpan, "What do you know about this Fisk guy?" She places a hand chin, thinking, "Other than what I told you nothing. The guy's private, but clean as far as I can tell." The hacker peers out the window then back to me, excited, "Being that I'm going to be in the city for a few days and got nothing to do. Can I tag-up with you and Karai?" "Tag-up with us?" I ask. "Yeah. I could be your temporary mission-control or whatever," she says. I thought about it for a moment, "Sure." Skye fist-pumps the air, "Yes! This is going to be awesome." I shake my head in amusement.**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Training area.] Skye and I walk into the shooting range and step to the table with an array of pistols and rifles. "You need to learn how to use these," I say, pointing to the weapons. The girl looks at me with wide eyes. Skye gazes at each of the guns in wonder. I pick up one of the pistols, a Glock-19, "The first thing you always need to do is treat the weapon as if it's loaded. Even when it's not. Keep your finger off the trigger unless you're going to shoot." Skye nods. Hold the gun out to her. A little hesitantly, Skye takes the weapon then fires in downrange. It misses the target. "Well, that sucked," she hums. I take a step closer to Skye, "Go back to a neutral stance. We're going to do this from the ground up. Do what I do." She nods and readies herself to follow my movement. Slowly draw my pistol, grip the handle with both hands, and punch my arms out forward. Skye did it precisely like me, "Good. Nice form. Now aim down the sight. Breathe. And try to keep both eyes open when you're aiming." She fires a shot. Now the bullet hit the target in the center mass. "Yes!" she yells excitedly. "Good. Do it again," I say. Skye goes for rounds after rounds. One-handed-shooting. Two-handed-shooting. Dual-wielding. Switching between different types of shooting stances. After a few more shots, we finally call it a quit.**

**[Mess-hall.] I hand over a hot cup of coffee to Skye. "Thanks," she says, taking the cup. "Your welcome," I say, sitting down, "Guessing Ward hasn't come around to teach you how to shoot a gun?" She shakes her head, "No. Then again, we don't have a shooting range on the bus." I smile, "No, you don't. Plus, don't think you want to cause any more damage. That plane is expensive." Something occurred to me. "Didn't you guys set up a VR-system?" I ask. "A what?" Skye questions, confused. "A VR-system. Virtual reality. SHIELD uses them to train the agents and STRIKE commandos," I tell her. "No. I didn't even know that was a thing," she says, "Wow." That moment, we notice Karai walks into the Mess-hall. She quickly spots us within the crowd of faces. "Hey! See you found Raijin," Karai states, sitting down next to Skye. "Yeah. Thanks for letting me know where I could find him," she says to the other super-soldier. I should've known Karai would pull something like this. The woman acts like my unofficial matchmaker and wing-woman. I take a sip of my coffee. Have to admit hanging out with Skye is enjoyable. She's funny, smart. Easy to get along with. A very down to earth type of girl. It's nice. "I'm glad I got to hang out with you. It was fun. Should do it again sometimes," Skye says, finishing up her drink, "I'll be staying at Zion. If you need me, call me up." "Will do," I say. Skye heads out the mess-hall. Once she's gone, Karai shoots me a wide triumphant smile, "Called it. I'm so telling Nat about this." I drop my head, "I hate you." "No, you don't," Karai says. The corner of my lip tilts upward.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

**[Drake POV]**

**[SHIELD outpost, UK]**

**I move to the central command room, leaving a trail of bodies in my wake. In the center of the room stand the five SHIELD agents, a squad of STRIKE commando at their side. Despite the brave faces, I can see the terror in their eyes. The troopers start to fire their weapon, ripping me to threads. I drop. After a few seconds, my heal-factor kicks in. I get back to my feet, grinning sadistically, "My turn." At lightning speed, I slaughter the commandos. From behind me, a squad of 6 steps out into view. "Your stage now, boss," I say to the man leading the charge. The man outfitted in a tactical combat suit and a purple mask stalks to the five. Each of them eyes him with fear. The old man's eyes go wide in disbelief, "Baron Zemo?" It can't be..." Zemo laughs, "Zola's variation of the super-soldier bio-enhancer transformed my body beyond its limitations. "What is it do you want?" the man asks, voice shaking. "For an empire to burn," he tells the old man. Zemo draws his sword and strikes them all down. The Cerberus unit watches in Glee as Zemo works. The screams of agony echo through the central command room. With a blood-soaked sword, Zemo turns to face us, "Soon, everything will be as envisioned. Through the ashes, NEO-HYDRA will rise to rule the new world."**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Washington DC, USA]**

**It's a cool morning to go for a run. Like usual, I started early around 6 AM. The streets are generally empty this time day, people are either still asleep or just beginning to wake up. On my run, I spot another the runner. An African American man. I never got his name or struck up a conversation, but I always see him on the same path. The man was clearly military by the way he holds himself. "On your left," I call out. It's courtesy to let another runner know you're about to pass them on a path. The man eyes, noticing I was going fast. Really fast. Like a full-on sprint. I shoot ahead of the man, turning on a counter. I run for 4 miles. On the 3rd mile, I passed the guy again. "On your left," I say. The guy stops for a quick moment to take a double-take, confused. I pass him again a third time. "On your left," I say again. At this point, I'm sure the guy was feeling a little insulted. No doubt the man is fit, but they don't like to be shown up like most soldiers. He picks up the pace. Despite his best attempt, he couldn't catch up with me. On the fourth mile, I spot the man sitting by a tree, completely exhausted. I walk over him, "Need a medic?" The man turns his head to face me, the look of realization hitting his features.**

**"Well, that explains a lot. I think I need a new set of lungs," he says, half-serious, "Dude, you just ran 13 miles in 30 minutes." I smile, "Had a late start." He laughs, "Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. Should take another lap. Did you just take it? I assume you took it." I reach out a hand, "What unit are you with?" He takes my hand, and I help him to his feet, "58th para-rescue. But I'm working at the VA now. Sam Wilson." Steve Rogers," I introduce myself. "Yeah, kind of put that together," Sam says, "Must've freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting thing." I shrug my shoulders, "It took some time getting used to it. Good to meet you, Sam." I turn to leave, feeling a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's because he mentioned the defrosting. I still hadn't completely gotten over that. Hell, I still feel the cold. "It's your bed, right?" Sam says behind me. "What?" I say, turning back to him. "Your bed, it's too soft. When I was over there, I slept on the ground, use rocks as pillows like a caveman. Now, I'm home lying on my bed, and it's like..." Sam starts. "Lying on a marshmallow. Feel like I'm to sink right through the floor," I finish. He nods. "How long?" I ask. "Two tours," Sam tells me, "You must miss the good old days." I thought about it. There a lot I miss, mostly Howard, Peggy, and Bucky. I quickly change the subject. "It isn't bad. The food is a lot better. We used to boil everything. Internet, so helpful. Been doing a lot of web surfing to catch up on everything," I say. Sam licks his lips, "Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album," Sam tells me. I pull out my notepad and write it down, "I'll put it on the list."**

**My phone goes off. It's a text message from Natasha. 'Got a mission. Meet you at the end of the block.' "Alright, Sam, duty calls," I say, heading out. "Hey, anytime you want to stop at VA, make me look good in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know," Sam says. "I'll keep that in mind," I tell him. A black sports car pulls up, Natasha at the wheel. I jump in the car. "We need to make one more pick up. It's on the way to the mission zone," Nat says. "Good morning to you too," I say.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Training-area.] I start the day putting Skye through a quick training drill, on her request. Hell, she spent a lot of time training with Karai and me when she's not on a mission. Feels like she's deliberately avoiding Ward. Skye throws a solid combination of punches and elbow to the pads Karai's holding. "Remember, keep it simple but complex. Don't try to be flashy," I call out. Got to say Skye came a long way in a short amount of time. After a short while, we call a break. Skye walks over to her gym bag, grab a bottle of water, and drinks for it. "Thanks for the training session," she says. I cross my arms, curious, "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but isn't Ward your SO? Why not train with him?" Skye shifts uncomfortably on her feet, "Feels uncomfortable to be around him right now." "Why?" Karai beats me to the question. "A few weeks ago, the team had on op dealing with an Asgardian artifact. A Berserker staff. Anyone who touches that thing receives an adrenaline rush burst of super-strength fueled by the user's inner rage and hatred. Long story short, when Ward used the staff, I saw him turn into something ugly."**

**I'm about to push on, but suddenly two people enter the training-area, calling for us. I turn around to see it's Cap and Nat. Both of them walk up to the three of us. "It's been a while," Cap says. "That it has. What's up?" I ask. "We got a high priority mission. Fury wants us to take this," Nat tells Karai and me. Cap notices Skye standing behind me, "Friend of yours?" I circle to Skye. The girl is entirely awestruck. 'Right. Forgot she's a big fan of the AVENGERS.' I step to the side. Cap reaches out a hand for a shake, "Steve Rogers." Skye finally snaps out of her trance and takes his hand, "Yeah, I know. Name's Skye. It's a real honor to meet you." Cap shoots her a smile, "Likewise. Coulson told me a lot of good things about you." Skye's cheeks shine a reddish color. We cut the conversation and head out.**

**[Indian Ocean]**

**[Quinjet.] Brock Rumlow brief us on the mission, "The target is a mobile satellite launch platform. Lemurian Star. They were sending up the payload when the pirates took over the ship 96 minutes ago." He works on a touch screen in the quinjet passenger compartment. "Any demands?" Cap asks. "Billion and a half," Rumlow tells. "Why so steep?" he asks. "It's SHIELD. If I was a merc that what I demand," I say, half-serious. "How many pirates are we dealing with?" Cap inquires. "Twenty-five. Top merc led by this guy," Rumlow says, displaying the mercenaries' leader's image, "Georges Batroc. Ex-DGSE, action division. He's at the top of Interpol's red notice. The guy has a rep for maximum casualties." "Hostages?" Karai questions. "Mostly, techs. One officer. Jasper Sitwell," he tells us. 'Sitwell? He's usually never on an op.' "What's Sitwell doing on a launch-ship? Cap wonders out loud. We all study the layout of the ship on the screen. "The PARAGADES and I'll sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get them out. Let's move." STRIKE, you heard the Cap. Gear up," Rumlow calls out his squad.**

**"Comlink check," Cap says into his mic, testing it. "Checked," I, Karai, and Nat all echo in unison. Nat eyes Cap as he comes to grab his gear, "Did anything exciting Saturday night?" "Well, all the guys from my barbershop are dead, so, no, not really," He tells her matter-of-factly. Nat turns her head toward me with a knowing look, "What about you, Raijin?" "'Training' with Skye," Karai teases. I'm very thankful for wearing my mask. She gestures between Cap and me, "I'm sure if you ask Kristen out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes. Same goes for you with Skye, Raijin." "That what I said," Karai calls out. I roll my eyes, but the thought is appealing. "That's why I don't ask," Cap says, putting on his helmet. "Too shy or too scared?" Nat grills. "Too busy!" He shouts over his shoulder. He leaps out the quinjet. Karai and I follow after him. Over the open comms, I hear Jack asks, "Were they wearing a parachute?" "No. No, they weren't," Rumlow tells the man.**

**[Lemurian Star]**

**We stealthy get onto the ship. Cap knocks out a passing sentry with back-choke-hold. We need to keep up the element of surprise as long as we could. Together we go counterclockwise around the ship, taking out the mercs in our path. Everything's going until we made a complete circuit of the vessel. Just as we turn to get into the deck, all three of us skid to a halt. A squad of mercs covers us with their weapons. "Don't move!" a merc demands. The mercenaries have an overlapping field of fire. Under my mask, I smile. 'If only they knew who they were fucking with.' In lightning speed, Cap throws his shield, striking down a merc. The shield goes back to Cap, he gracefully catches it and slings it at another merc. In sync, Karai and I quick-draw our pistol and double-tap the last batch of mercs. A merc comes around the corner, aiming his rifle at Karai's head. There's a soft pop. The merc collapses to the ground, dead. I look up to Rumlow, Nat, and the rest of the STRIKE team parachuting down. "Nice shot," Cap comments. It isn't easy to be accurate when hanging from a parachute on a windy night shooting at a moving target. Rumlow is one of SHIELD's best. "For the record, I let you take that shot," Karai tells him. He smiles, "Sure, you did, sweetheart." Karai growls. Like Ward, the guy is known to be an asshole. We move to the next mission objective.**

**"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you?" Nat asks Cap, acting as Cap's personal Cupid. Unfortunately for her, Cap's mind is on the mission. "Secure the engine room, then get me a date," He tells her. "I'm multitasking," Nat says, vaulting over the railing to the lower level. Behind Cap, we got the lower level of the bridge tower. Using HUD, we listen in on what the mercs are saying. "I don't like waiting," a merc complains, "Let the others know I want this ship ready to move once the ransom comes." Through the comlink, Nat voices, "Engine room is secure." "STRIKE is in position. Holding on your word, Cap," Rumlow says. "On my mark," Cap says, getting ready, "Hit it." Slinging the Shield, Cap takes one of the merc at the main control panel. Karai and I leap into the command room, taking out four merc. One merc makes a run for it. Batroc. Cap gives case. "We're moving to the extraction point, Cap. Hostiles are still in play," Rumlow says over the comlink. "Copy that. Raijin, Karai, provides backup. I'll link with you once I get Batroc," Cap orders. "On it," I say.**

**We circle back to rendezvous with Rumlow and the STRIKE unit. Getting to the life-pods, there a firefight between STRIKE and the mercs. I signal to Karai to flank them. Using stealth-camo, we take out the mercs one by one. I tap my comlink, "Cap, all enemy targets are eliminated. What's your status?" Via comlink, Karai, and I could hear fighting. "Rumlow, get the hostages out of here. We're going back for Cap," Karai says. We both bolt to Cap's last location. Coming around the corner, Cap is in a hand-to-hand fight with Batroc. Cap gets a drop on Batroc with a leaping-kick, dropping him on his ass.**

**As Batroc gets back to his feet, Cap charges him, slamming him through a door into a room full of computers, then knocking him with a punch. Walking to the control-room, we see Nat at one of the computer stations. "Well, this is awkward," she says. Cap looks up at her, "What are you doing?" "Backing up the hard-drive. It's a good habit to get into," She tells him. Cap stumps over to her, clearly irritated, looks over her shoulder to the computer screen, "You're saving SHIELD intel." "Whatever I could get my hands on," she states. "Our mission was to rescue hostages," he says. "No, that was your mission. My mission was to provide backup and save SHIELD intel. Raijin and Karai reported they cleared the ship of enemy threats. So, I'm doing my second objective," She says.**

**Despite not wanting to take a side, I understand why Cap's upset. He wasn't informed about Nat side op. A soldier has to trust and work with his/her partner with full transparency in a unit. Movement catches my attention. Batroc is back on his feet. I turn and stun-blast the merc. "Now, the ship is completely secure," I say.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Triskelion, Washington DC, USA]**

**[Office.] I stroll into the office, "You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Fury is facing the window, "I didn't lie. Natasha had a different mission from yours." "Info you didn't oblige to share," I snap. He turns to me, "I'm not obliged to do anything." That's true, and I know it, but I didn't have to like it. "Those hostages could've died," I tell him. "I sent in four super-soldiers and STRIKE commandos to make sure that didn't happen," Fury says. "Soldiers trust each other that what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns," I voice. Fury cracks a humorless laugh, "Tell that to a few dumbass politicians." He stands up, "In this life, trust is not an easy thing to gain. I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Natasha, PARAGADES, they're willing to get their hands dirty." I wasn't backing down, "I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have a mission of their own." Fury sighs with vexation, "It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills secret because nobody knows them all." "Except for you," I sass. Fury's demeanor softens. "You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that," he says. He walks out of the office to the elevator, motioning me to follow him.**

**"Insight bay," he orders, stepping in. The elevator computer scans me, "Captain Rodgers does not have clearance for project insight." Fury overrides the computer, granting me access. The elevator starts to move. "You know they used to play music on these things," I say. Fury smirks, "Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years. Granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He walked one every night with a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say hi. People say hi back. Time went on; the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say hi. They'd say, keep on stepping. Granddad gripped that lunch bag a little tighter." There was a quick pause.**

**I knew plenty of neighborhoods like that. Living in Brooklyn that was an everyday thing to me. "Did he ever get mugged?" I ask. Fury sniggers, "Every week there be a punk that says, what's in the bag?" "What he do?" I ask, curious. "He showed them. A roll of ones and a loaded gun. Yeah, granddad liked people. He just didn't trust them very much." 'I guess not. Neither does his grandson.' The elevator rides down into a massive hanger, housing three helicarriers. My eyes go wide in astonishment. "Yeah, I know. They're a lot bigger than a 22," Fury comments.**

**Getting on the floor, Fury gives me a rundown on what SHIELD been up to, "This is Project Insight. Three next-gen helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites launched from the Lemurian Star. Once in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of the new repulsor engine." "Stark," I ask, walking with Fury. I wasn't surprised to hear Tony had a hand in this. In fact, Pepper told me since the Battle of New York, Tony been suffering through PTSD. He been managing it but struggling. She mentioned Tony spends a lot of time working on a new project with Banner, whatever that is.**

**"He had a few suggestions when he got an up-close look," Fury says, referring to the battle on the old helicarrier. We walk underneath one of the new helicarriers. "These long-range precision guns could eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. The satellite can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps out of his sniper hole. Neutralize a lot of threats before they happen," he says. For a moment, I could almost hear the cynicism in his tone. He doesn't even believe what he is saying. Like he's rehashing what he was told. "I thought the punishment normally comes after the crime," I say, serious. "The higher-ups can't afford to wait that long," he tells me. "The higher-ups?" I question. "After New York, the World Security Council decide to in place a quantum surge in threat analysis," Fury tells me. "Holding a gun to everyone on earth and calling it protection," I say bitterly. Fury drops his head, peer over to me, a cold look in his eye, "I've read those SRR files. You guys did a lot of nasty stuff. Let's not pretend you're morally superior here, Captain. We live in the land of the gray." I sigh, "Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so people could be free." Point to the helicarrier, "This isn't freedom. This is fear." I walk away.**

**[Nick Fury POV]**

**'Some of us take the world as it is, not what we want it to be. But it doesn't mean we can't make it better.'**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[3 months later, SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Virtual-reality.] Cap taps the white strip of tape on the floor with his feet, "On the line." The SHIELD recruits did as instructed. Cap stands in the center, "This is a simple exercise. All you have to do is get past me and ring the bell on the opposite side of the area." The first 3-man team readies themselves on the line. Karai blows the whistle signaling the start of the exercise. The three charges at Cap. Cap leaps onto the first guy and flips him onto his back. The second guy he takes down with a roundhouse-kick. The last guy tries to make quick rush pass Cap. With a smirk, Cap throws his shield, sweeping the leg out from under him. "And here I thought he was going to go easy," Skye murmurs. I smile under my mask, "That was him going easy." Skye looks at me in disbelief, then drops her head, "Now that just cheating." We continue to watch Cap takes down the other teams. "You would think they would've figured out the purpose of the exercise is to work as a team," I comment. "They'll figure it out. Eventually," Karai says. After an hour of training, we call a quit. "Alright guys log-out," Karai says.**

**[Training-area.] I open my eyes back in the real world seated in a layback chair with a headset on me. Next to me is Skye, who is starting to come to. We both take off the VR-headset. "Well, that was an experience. It felt real. Pain and all," she says, sitting up. "The brain makes it real. To the mind, pain's pain," Karai says. Skye peer at her, confused. "The phantom pain affect," I clarify. "Well, least I don't have to worry about lasting injuries from training," Skye says. "True," I state. Karai beams a knowing smile at the two of us, "You guys head out. I need to run a system check." It's a lie, but I don't argue.**

**[New York City]**

**Skye and I stroll through the nearly empty street of Hell's Kitchen. "It was nice to tag-up with Cap again," Skye says, walking beside me. "Yeah, it was," I tell her. We cross Saint Ann orphanage. I eye it. There aren't many orphanages in the city nowadays, or across the country. Since the Foster care system's installation, a lot of orphanages closed down, including Guardians' Garden orphanage. We continue on. Coming up the block, there are gathering people at the end of the street. Getting closer, we see that's it a block party. Skye peers to me, flashes a smile, "Want to be my plus one?" I beam, "Sure.'**

**The party is in full swing. Admittedly I didn't know anyone, hell I don't think anyone knew anyone. They're just there to enjoy their time. Skye took a few shots of tequila. She offered me some, but I couldn't get drunk due to being enhanced by the BIO-ENHANCER. Hell, I couldn't even get a buzz. Regardless, I take the drink and gulp it down. Seeing a dance floor, Skye takes my hand, and we head over. I'm not a great dancer, but I could do good enough to get by. Skye takes the lead, and I follow. We move together with the rhythm of the music. "You're not a bad dancer," she says. "Honestly, I'm just following you, Skye," I say sheepishly. Skye places her arms around my shoulders, drawing me closer, "You don't need to be nervous. Just go with the flow." A few hours later, a ruckus by a restaurant catches our attention. Curious, Skye, and I go investigate. An enrage overweight chef storms out of the restaurant, a meat cleaver in hand, chasing an animal. A puppy. "Oh, hell the fuck no," Skye yells, giving chase. I go after the three.**

**[Alley.] The pup gets cornered at a dead end. Turning, it sees the chef stalking towards it. The dog drops the meat it's holding in its mouth and growls threateningly at the overweight man. The man just laughs, amused. "You little shit screwed with my business for the last time," the man yells. Before he could get any closer to the animal, Skye grabs him by the attacking arm. The chef blinks back in surprise. "Don't even think about it. So calm down and back off," Skye orders. Despite acting calm, I could see she's itching to punch the man out. I step in, making the guy's attention fall on me. From my pocket, I hand the chef a few hundred dollars, "For the damages the dog might have caused." He says something, but I ignore him, "Take the money and leave," I tell him. With a snort, the man walks away. I turn my gaze to Skye. She kneels down in front of the pup, a space between them. The dog steps out from the dark corner. "It's okay. It's okay. The mean fatass is gone now," she says to the pup. Skye picks up the piece of meat it dropped. Unwrapping it, Skye holds out a bite-size bit. Cautiously, the pop moves toward Skye, sniffs the beef, then eats it. "Aren't you a cute little thing," she says. Skye reaches out an empty hand to pet it. The pup jumps back. It studies her hand then Skye's face. "I'm not going to hurt you," she tells the dog. Accepting her words, the pup moves in close, letting Skye pet it.**

**I walk to stand next to her, getting a better view of the puppy. The dog has raven-colored fur. Bright blue with a black sclera. Never seen this type of breed before. Must be a hybrid Wolf-dog, off the appearance. "Ahab. Yeah, that name suits you," Skye says, picking the dog up. The pup licks her face happily. She holds up to me, "Why don't you and Karai keep it? I can't due to traveling a lot." "Yeah, Karai always wanted a dog," I say, taking the pup. Together we head out with a new addition.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[The Smithsonian, Washington DC]**

**Riding my motorcycle through the city, after riding about for a few hours, I found myself in one of my favorite places. The Smithsonian. It's been a little weird coming here lately because the museum installed an exhibit on me. 'Steve Rogers a walking historical relic.' The last two days, been nagging me. Felt like everything I fought for was for nothing. Since when did we start sacrificing freedom for security? I shake my head. Walkthrough the exhibit as the voice over plays, telling a version of my story. Stop at a group of mannequins wearing replicas of the uniform worn by the Howling Commandos. My eyes drift to the mannequin that's supposed to be Bucky. Turning, I saw a black-&-white picture of Bucky titled 'A Fallen Comrade.' The voice over plays, "Both on school grounds and the battlefield Steven Rogers and Bucky Barnes were inseparable. Brothers in every way but blood. Barnes is the only member of the Howling Commandos to give his life in service to his country." I take a deep sad breath.**

**[Theater-room.] Next, I progress into a film room where I watch an interview with Peggy Carter. "That was a difficult winter. A blizzard trapped half of the battalion behind the German line. Steve, Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a HYDRA blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved 1,000 men," she tells the interviewer, "Including the man who would eventually become my husband. After he died, Steve was still changing my life." I pull out the old compass from my pocket, admiring the only photo of Peggy I had. My mind dances at a distant memory of our one and single night together. 'Let her go, old man. Let her go.'**

**[Nick Fury POV]**

**[Weeks later, Triskelion, Washington DC]**

**[Office.] "Secure the office," I order. The windows polarize to a dark tinted shade. Other security measures I couldn't see started up as well. No electronic traffic could go in or out. I insert the USB drive Romanov had brought back into a terminal, "Open the Lemurian Star satellite launch file." The computer displays a message on the screen, "Access denied." 'The fuck?' "Run decryption," I order. "Decryption failed," the computer tells me. "Director override. Fury Nicholas J," I say, trying another approach. "Override denied all files sealed," the computer relays. "On whose authority?!" I demand. "Director Nicholas Fury," the computer tells me. Someone locked me using my code. There aren't that many people that can do that. My mind starts to list off some suspects. I had suspicions something was going within SHIELD but didn't have anything substantial to go on. Now the question is, how deep does this go, or rather how high? There's only one person I could ask. I make a beeline to the elevator.**

**[World Security Council office.] Alexander Pierce, liaison and member of the World Security Council. Four of the council members are in a heated talk with Pierce. The council members are present via hologram. I notice Gideon Malick is absent from the meeting. Interesting enough, he's on my list of suspects. A secretary walks over to Pierce to informs him that I'm in his office and needed to talk. Pierce strolls out the meeting room, ignoring the councils' protest. "I work 40 floors away, and it takes a hijacking for you to visit," he says, walking to the office. "A nuclear war would do it too," I shoot back. I glance through the window, "Having a hard time?" The man forces a smile, "It's nothing I haven't handle a million times before." I turn back to Pierce, "I need a favor. Call for a vote. Project Insight needs to be delayed." "Nick, that's not a favor, that's a sub-committee hearing. A long one," he says. The hidden anger in his voice isn't hard to miss. Least not for me. Like councilman Malick, Pierce wanted Project Insight ready to go ASAP. My suspiciousness of the man starts to rise. "It might be nothing. It probably is nothing. I want to make sure that it is nothing," I tell him. "But if it is something?" he asks. He was trying to see how much he could get out of me. I've been in counterintelligence long enough to know when someone is subtly trying to get me to spill secrets. I sigh, "Then we'll both be damn glad those Helicarriers aren't in the air." "Fine. I'll talk to the council," Pierce says. As I'm making my exit, I send out an encrypted message that SHIELD is compromised.**

**[Washington DC]**

**[Car.] I drive through the city. A lot is running through my mind. Part of me is hard at work mentally, kicking myself for not seeing the conspiracy sooner. I should've acted on it the first moment I got suspicious. My old age is finally catching up with me. Whatever is going on, it's connected to Project Insight. I activate the communication encryption protocol and call Hill. My second in command quickly answers. "I need you in DC. Deep shadow condition," I tell her, getting straight to the point. "Give me four hours," Hills says. "You got three," I say, ending the call. I stop at a traffic light. A police car pulls up next to me. The two cops inside stare me down. Their appearance hostile, eyes were hidden behind mirrored sunglasses. It wasn't my first time dealing with asshole cops. But this is different. Alarm bells are going off in my head, telling me to be ready for a fight. The light changes green, and everything turns mayhem.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[Pakistan]**

**[Quinjet.] SHIELD tasked us on a high-priority mission. Intel team got actionable information; the TEN-RINGS got their hands on a nuke. The other STRIKE commandos are gearing up. I glance at Rumlow as he starts to brief the team on the mission. "Alright, listen up! The stolen nuke wasn't taken far. We have its location narrowed down to a missile assembly building. We'll go in by the roof and fan-out from there," he tells us, "Once we have the warhead, we'll disarm it on route to the rendezvous point." Joining us on this snatch-&-grab op is JSOC. "We're approaching the drop zone," the pilot calls out. "Ten-hut! Make ready," Rumlow yells out, getting everyone on their feet. The quinjet stealthily flies over one of the neighboring buildings. Alpha team rope-line down onto the roof. Weapon at the ready, we enter into the assembly building.**

**[Assembly-building.] Spotting an enemy, I quickly dash up behind him and throw my arms around his neck, putting him in back-choke-hold. The man is out cold in less than 2 seconds. "Got three on the lower level," a JSOC soldier reports. "Moving to clear," Raijin says. Raijin moves past me to the lower level. He grabs hold the head of an unsuspecting sentry, slams him to the wall, quick-draws his pistol, and drops another three sentries ahead of him. "Clear," Raijin says into his comlink. Using the HUD, I spot a team of hostiles Loading the nuke on a vehicle.**

**"They're moving out! Bring the rain! Do not let them leave with that nuke!" I yell out. JSOC come fast-roping down from an opening, firing on every enemy target they spotted. The entire facility just turns into a small war zone with bullets flying in all directions. I sprint across the catwalk, slide under a crate, drop three militia with headshots. Via HUD, I saw Raijin tackle an enemy who was trying to get a drop on me. "Nice save," I say to Raijin. "Someone got to watch your six," he says. "Well, as long as it's not my lower six. Don't want to Skye to get jealous, do we," I state back. Despite wearing his mask, I know Raijin's face is bright red with blush. "Mind on the op, Karai," Raijin deflects. "Nuke is secured," Rumlow says via comlink, "Mount up on the transport vehicle." I look over the railing. STRIKE and JSOC are starting to move out. At that moment, I feel like something is off. Raijin and I grapple down to ground-level. Landing on the transport vehicle, we head out.**

**[Evac-location.] We station down in the middle of an open field 10 miles out, waiting for our pick-up. It'll be a 2-hour wait time. Raijin taps my shoulder and hands me a bottle of water, which I happily take. We eye the other soldiers who are celebrating a successful mission. Raijin and I go join them. An hour past. I heard something coming from the distance. Gazing over the horizon, I spot seven flyers. "Transport's early," Raijin says, standing next to me. At that moment, a message from Fury displays on our HUD. 'SHIELD compromised,' it reads. Once in range, the flyers start to open fire on us. "INCOMING!" Raijin yells.**

**He jumps on me, dropping both of us to the ground. It's complete chaos. Soldiers are ripped to shreds left and right. Those who aren't killed by the first pass start to fight back with everything they had. Getting to our feet, Raijin and I join the battle. Obtaining rocket launcher, a JSOC soldier takes one of the flyers down. Three carriers land, dropping a small battalion of troops. They move on us, boxing us in. The Flyers still in the air makes another past, wiping out a group of soldiers. There's only a handful of us still standing. JSOC soldiers are fighting alongside us are quickly killed one by one with insane shots to the head, leaving only Raijin and I the last two standing. The mercs surround us on all sides. A near-invisible shadow steps forward, deactivates the stealth-camo, revealing Drake. Raijin straightens. Rumlow and his team casually stride to the mercs. "You motherfucker," I growl, glaring hateful daggers at the man, "You sold us out." Rumlow smirk. Drake eyes the man, "The Bosses want you back in DC." "Hail HYDRA," he says, walking off. Both Raijin and I eyes gape in shock at Rumlow's words.**

**Drake dashes forward, he slams his fist to Raijin's face. I quickly take aim. But Drake zig-zags in close, takes hold of my gun, elbows me in the jaw, spins me around while still holding onto my arm, slams an elbow to the joint, breaking it. I scream out in pain.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**I jump to my feet, just in time to watch Drake break Karai's arm. He tosses her to the side. We stare each other down. "Drake," I growl the man's code-name. "Come on, Runt. Let's go," Drake says. Before I could move, Drake grabs me by the neck with one hand. I break out of his hold, arm-throw him to the ground. As the assassin jumps back to his feet, I rush at him, striking him in the chest with a jump-knee. Karai watches on in fear. My momentary distraction gives Drake the advantage. He punches me with a sturdy hook, sending me flying to the aside like a ragdoll. "Raijin!" Karai yells. Karai goes back on the attack. But Drake easily fends her off. The assassin utterly outmatched her. In a swift lighting speed motion, Drake draws a blade and stabs Karai in the shoulder, then punctures the blade to her body's side. Karai screams in agony. She falls to her knees, blood streaming out of her wounds. I run forward, tackle Drake off of her. He back-elbows me in the face, throws a hand at my face, slamming my head to the wall. Karai tries to get back in the fight, but Drake kicks her square in the face, sending her back to the ground. He turns back to me. Drake swings his knife. I black the attack, push him toward the wall, rain down punches. Every blow I hit the assassin with is harder than the last. I felt the bone of his jaw crack under my fist. Drake pushes me off and spin-back-kicks me in the chest. The hit sends my crashing to the ground. The merc strides to the downed Karai. He grabs her by the head, yanks to her knees, and readies the blade for the killing blow. Karai spits in his face, "Fuck you." "No!" I yell out.**

**Drake is shot by an energy blast from out of nowhere, sending him crashing to the ground. The carriers hovering nearby are also shot down. I look up to see a woman in a red and blue combat-suit. It's Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel. The mercs start to open fire on the masked rescuer. With grace, she maneuvers around the air, avoiding the oncoming fire. The woman blasts a few of the mercs. Jetting toward Karai and me, Danvers takes hold of us and flies off. Drakes stands back up, glaring as we escape.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[The VA, Washington DC, USA]**

**I stop off at the VA to see Sam. Might even help him out to impress that girl he's interested in. I need to connect with some regular people outside of SHIELD. Seeing the exhibit of my old unit, Bucky, and Peggy had put me in a semi-depressed mood. I was feeling adrift, and Sam reached out. Hell, Sam, Raijin, and Karai all reached out, even Natasha. That simple support meant something to me. **

**[Support-group-room.] Walking the halls, I found Sam running a support group for Veterans. "The thing is I think it's getting worse," a woman says. Sam focuses his attention on the woman as she tells her story. "A cop pulled me over last week. He thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED," she finishes. I stay by the door, not wanting to intrude. "Some stuff you leave there. Other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. How we carry it is up to you," Sam tells the support group. **

**He wraps up the meeting. As the group disperses, Sam walks up to me. "Look who it is, the running man," Sam says jokingly. I nod at the now empty room, "Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense." "Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret," Sam trails off. "You lost someone?" I ask. He nods sadly, "My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we haven't done a thousand times before. Until an RPG knocked Riley out of the sky. Never even saw it coming. Nothing I can do but watch helplessly." "I'm sorry," I tell him. It's all I could say to the man. "After that, I had a hard time finding a reason to be over there, you know?" Sam tells me. I look around the meeting room; it's everything you see from someone trying to get back into the world, "But you're happy now, back in the world?" "The number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, yeah, I'm good," Sam grins, "You thinking about getting out?" "No," I say, then corrected myself, "Well, I never really thought about it." "MMA," he jokes. We laugh.**

**[Rogers's apartment, Washington DC]**

**Walking up the stairs to my apartment, I run into my neighbor Kate. She's carrying a laundry basket and talking on the phone. Everyone seems to be on the phone all the time. After a short talk with the person on the other line, she hangs up to call. Kate drops the phone into the laundry basket and looks at me with a sheepish smile. "My aunt, she kind of an insomniac," she tells me. "Yeah. Hey, if you want, you're welcome to use my Washing machine. Might be cheaper than the one in the basement," I say. Suddenly I'm nervous. Maybe Nat was right that I should ask Kate out, but it has been a long time since I asked a girl out. She raises an eyebrow, "Yeah? What does it cost?" "A cup of coffee," I state. She smiles, "Thanks, but I already have a load downstairs, and you don't want my scrubs in your machine. I finish rotation in the ER. Big mess." I catch the hint of what she was saying. 'Thanks, but no thanks.' "Well, I'll keep my distance," I say. "Hopefully not too far," she says, "Oh, I think you left your stereo on." Kate heads off to do her laundry. Turn to face my door. I'm sure I didn't leave the stereo on.**

**[Apartment.] Cautiously, I enter my apartment through the window. Prowling, I grab my shield that was lying nearby. My stereo is on. Someone is clearly in here, but who and why? It didn't take me long to find out. Sitting on the recliner is Nick Fury. "I don't remember giving you a key," I say, feeling a little agitated. "You think I'd need one," he sasses. 'No, I guess not.' "My wife kicked me out," he says. That took me a little by surprise. I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or lying. "I didn't know you were married," I say. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me," he tells me. "I know, Nick. That's the problem," I tell him, switching on the lights. The light illuminates Fury's bruised face, shocking me. I'm about to ask what happen, but he holds his hand, cutting me short. Fury switches off the lights, types something into his phone and shows it to me. 'Ears everywhere. SHIELD's compromised,' the text reads. "Sorry I had to do this, but I had no place else to crush," he says. He types again, 'The PARAGADES are MIA.' "Who else knows about your wife?" I ask, playing along. "Just my friends," he tells me. Did he mean that, or was he saying that for whoever is listening in? "Is that what we are?" I ask a little harshly. "That up to you," he says. Suddenly there's a loud pop. Fury cries out and collapses to the floor. I spin to see a small size hole on the wall. I quickly drag Fury behind cover and kneel next to him. Fury reaches up, handing me a USB drive, "Don't trust anyone." The man goes limp. Someone breaks down my door. "Captain Rogers!" I pop my head out to see it's Kate, a pistol at ready, "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD special service. I was assigned to protect you." "Whose orders?" I question. She comes around and sees Nick, "His." Kate moves to Fury, checks him over. She pulls out a radio from her pocket, "Foxtrot is down. I need EMS on my location." "Do we a location on the shooter?" the voice on the other end asks. I look out the window and spot the shooter, "Tell them I'm in pursuit."**

**[Washington DC]**

**I charge out the front window, sail across the street, landing inside an office, and then start running straight through the building, punching past windows, walls, and doors, never losing sight of the assassin. The shooter leaps onto the next roof. I jump after him. Rolling to my feet, I throw my shield to the assassin's back. With one arm, the killer catches it to my complete shock. His eyes glittered with hate. He throws my shield back at me. The force throws me back a few steps. When I get back my balance, the assassin is gone.**

**[Hospital, Washington DC]**

**I, along with Hill, watch the doctors did everything they can to save Fury. Natasha storms into the observation room. "Is he going to make it?" she asks in a low voice. It's the first time I've heard her sound vulnerable. Her expression is full of emotions. "I don't know," I tell her. "Tell me about the shooter?" she demands. There isn't much to tell. "Strong, fast, skilled, and has a metal arm," I say. Nat eyes go slightly wide but quickly shakes it off. She turns her head to Hill, "Ballistic?" "Three slugs. No rifling. Completely untraceable," Hill states. "Soviet-made," Nate states to herself, knowingly. Hill spins to her, "Yeah. How-" Hill didn't get to finish. All our attention goes back to the doctors working on Fury. The machine keeping track of Fury's vital signs drops, fast. "Get a crash cart in here now!" the doctor yells. The doctors start to move about frantically, doing everything they can for Fury. "Don't do this to me, Nick," Nat whispers. After a short while, all doctors stop working and pull away. The monitors are all zeros. The line all flat. Fury is gone.**

**We stand with Fury's body for a while once he is wheeled out of surgery. I stand nearby the door, busy thinking about the USB drive in my pocket, giving Nat a moment of privacy. Whatever is on the flash-drive got Fury killed. Who can I trust to tell about it? I would've gone to the PARAGADES, but they're MIA based on what Fury told me back in my apartment. I wasn't good at this cloak-and-dagger stuff. I'm a soldier, not a spy. Hill enters, "I need to take him." Nat places a hand on Fury's head, giving him a final goodbye. This is a massive loss to her. Hell, it's a significant loss to everyone in SHIELD. Putting that to the side, I need to ask Nat a few questions, and they can't wait. Nat walks out of the room with me following close behind.**

**"Natasha," I call out, walking up to Nat in the middle of the hall. She whirls to face me, "Why was Fury in your apartment?" "I don't know," I say quickly. She didn't believe me. Rumlow comes up behind me, "Cap, they want you back at HQ." He and the STRIKE commandos station at the Hospital in case the assassin took another crack at Fury. "Give me a second," I tell him. I have to finish the conversation with Natasha. She can get to the bottom of this conspiracy better and faster than I can, but I need to know if she can be trusted. 'Don't trust anyone,' Fury's last words echoes. Who are the traitors, and who is still loyal to SHIELD? "They want you now," Rumlow demands. I glare at the man, "Okay." Wheeling back to Nat. "You're a terrible liar," Nat states coldly. I'm a lot better at it than people give me credit for; only don't utilize the skill very often. 'Think like Fury. What would he do?' Getting back on track, I stash away the USB drive in a hidden place and move toward Rumlow and the STRIKE commandos who are waiting for me.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Pakistan]**

**After an extended period, we finally touch down nearby what looks to be a new model quinjet. Couldn't help to draw the comparison to the pelican from the Halo games. "I was on a humanitarian mission when I got the encrypted message from Fury. What the hell is going on?" Danvers asks. "An attack from within SHIELD," I told her. It's the only thing we knew. We're in the dark as much as she was. Karai's regenerative powers are just finished healing the last of her injuries. "Who are those mercs who attacked you?" Danvers asks. Karai and I both shake our heads. "All we know is their leader. Drake," I say, "A mercenary, SUPER, and a psychopath." Karai starts to fill her in on the clusterfuck that went down before she showed up.**

**We didn't have many interactions with Carol Danvers, because she's on the Air-force division of SHIELD. Counting the Battle Of New York, we had only teamed-up on three missions. Last I checked, she just took up the Captain Marvel mantle three years ago after her father, Mar-vell, died in action. That moment, Epyon tags an SOS call. Karai pulls up her holo-computer and types away, "The SOS is coming from the Excalibur." Danvers' eyes go wide with worry, "That's the ship I serve on!" she storms toward the quinjet, "Get on." Without being told twice, Karai and I follow right behind her.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Triskelion, Washington DC, USA]**

**[Office.] Now, I stroll my way into Alexander Pierce's office in my uniform. The man's a bigwig in SHIELD and a member of the World Security Council. Noticing me, he stands up from his deck and reaches out a hand, "Captain Rogers, I'm Alexander Pierce." "Sir, it's an honor," I say, shaking the man's hand. "The honor's mind. My father served in the 101st," he says. Pierce starts to tell me a story of an incident in Bogota with him and Fury. Fury often told me politicians love to tell stories about themselves to oversell their importance. I'm starting to see where he got that idea. After Pierce is finishes telling me the tale, he cuts straight to business. "Captain, why was Nick Fury in your apartment last night?" he asks me. "I don't know?" I tell him. "Did you know it was bugged?" Pierce tells me. "I did, because Nick told me," I say. "Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Pierce pushes. I didn't answer. I wasn't sure if it was true, or why Pierce wanted to see me. 'Play dumb for a little bit. See what cracks.' "I want to show you something," he says. Pierce switches on a wall-screen. It displays footage of Batroc's interrogation. "Is he a suspect?" I ask. "Assassination isn't Batroc line," he tells me, "After a few days of interrogation, he finally folded and gave us the name of his employer. Jacob Veech." The name didn't mean anything to me. "Am I supposed to know that name," I say. Pierce shakes his head, "Not likely. Jacob Veech died six years ago. His listed address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived in 1437."**

**Now I understood what he was getting at. And I didn't like it. Fury may be a lot of things, but a traitor isn't one of them. "Are you insinuating Fury hired the mercs? Why?" I demand. "The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour, and that led to Nick's death." I shake my head, "If you knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true." The man smiles a little, "Why do you think we're talking." I relaxed a slight bit. Pierce walks over to the window, staring out to the horizon, "See, I took the seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to because we're both realists. We knew that, despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, to build a better world sometimes means having to tear down the old one. And that makes enemies." It's at that moment I realized this man has a dangerous worldview. It was very similar to an old enemy. Zemo. Completely different from Fury. Despite our disagreement with methods, Fury wanted security and freedom equally. He never preached about tearing down anything. He faces me, "Captain, you were the last person to see Nick alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think you do, either. I'm going to ask again. What was Fury doing in your apartment?" "He told me I shouldn't trust anyone," I say, giving him the only truth. "I wonder if that included him," Pierce shoots back. I don't know how to answer that, so I stick with the fact, "Sorry, that's all he told me." I start to move to the door. "Captain, someone murdered my friend, and I'm going to find out why. Anyone who gets in my way will regret it," he tells me. There I saw the eyes cold-hearted operative behind the facade of the politician. "Understood," I say, walking out.**

**[Elevator.] I step into the small space and punch the button to ground-level. Rumlow and a few STRIKE commandos quickly join me. "Cap," Rumlow says with a nod. I nod back to him. "CSI team found some fibers on the roof. They want us to check it out. Want me to get the tac team ready?" he tells me. I look out the glass wall over the city, still digesting my conversation with Pierce. I wasn't sure what to think of the man, but something is off with him. "No, let's wait and see what it is first," I tell Rumlow. He turns back to the others STRIKE commandos. A sense of danger triggers. The team is spread out around the elevator. It didn't feel like a group of people just standing in their own space. No, this is tactical. One of them rests a hand on the handle of his pistol taser. That isn't something an experienced soldier does unless he's planning on using it. The elevator stops, and more SHIELD agents get on. "I'm sorry for what happened to Fury," Rumlow says. It was quick, but I notice the slight smirk on Rumlow's face when he said those words. "Thank you," I say. The elevator stops again, and two more STRIKE men step in. They're all evenly spaced out with me in the middle. 'SHIELD compromised.' The phrase keeps echoing in my head. It's starting to become apparent this is a set-up. A set-up arranged by Pierce. Once the elevator closes, I make the first move. "Before we get started, does anyone want to get off?" I ask. There's a pause. And there's an opening. Jack Rollins spins around, swinging a taser baton. I push-kick him back to the wall. Someone behind me wraps an arm around my neck. Another group grab hold of my arm with one trying to get a magnetic cuff on me. I manage to fend them off by kicking out one of the goon's legs then throwing the other person to the glass wall. The guy on my left, I jam an elbow to his face, breaking his nose. A STRIKE commando tries to rush me. I kick him in the chest, sending it to the floor. Jack gets back up, but I drop him back to the ground by a palm-strike to the throat. Grabbing the guy trying to choke me out, I swing him over my shoulder to a STRIKE solder, knock them both out.**

**Rumlow gets a hit off me via a cheap shot from behind, striking with the taser rod. My whole body lit up in pain. "For the record. I never liked you. I have been itching to take you out from the very start. Least you'll be joining your team of freaks in the afterlife. Send Karai my regard," Rumlow taunts, grinning. My eyes go wide in shock. There's a memory flash of Bucky's fall. My mind plays out a vision of how my team was betrayed? How were they killed? A burst of rage fills me. I snap an elbow back, hitting Rumlow square in the face. He staggers back, stunned. I storm him a combo of punches, grab him and throw him to the elevator ceiling, letting him fall hard unconscious to the floor. I pick up my shield, open the elevator door. A whole squad of heavily-armed STRIKE commandos waited for me outside. "DROP THE SHIELD AND PUT YOUR HANDS OVER YOUR HEAD!" a soldier demands. I spin around, destroying the elevator's control panel, sending it free-falling. The emergency brakes kick in. I could hear a group of soldiers moving through the hallway. 'Well, hard way it is.' I dash out the glass wall window. Landing on the ground, I make a break to the garage.**

**[Runway.] On my motorcycle, I drive over the bridge. A quinjet jets past me; it hovers stationary in front. "Stand down, Captain Rogers," a voice orders through the speakers. It starts to aim its weapon. 'Not going to happen.' I accelerated. The jet fires its gun; bullets rip up the surface of the bridge. I zig-zag in close, dodging the shots. I throw the shield to the jet's rotors. It dips low. I spring on top of aircraft, jerk my shield free and throw it to the two main engines. Fire sparks out wildly from the thrusters. I leap clear from the jet as it crashes. 'Sitwell. That was Sitwell's voice coming from the speakers. He was also on the Lemurian Star. The puzzle pieces are falling into place.' I sprint, aiming to get back to the Hospital for that USB drive.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Hospital, Washington DC]**

**Now wearing civilian clothing over my uniform, I sneak my way through the hospital, stopping at the vending machines. The USB drive I hid in it is gone. Natasha's reflection appears over my shoulder, popping a chewing gum. I grab her arm, drag her into an empty room, and put her up against the wall. "Where is it?" I demand, knowing she must've taken it. There no other reason to stage an appearance like that. "Safe," Natasha states. Keeping her pin, "Do better," I growl. A pinch of fear crosses her feature. It's gone as quickly as it came. "Where did you get it?" she queries. "Why would I tell you?" I ask. "Fury gave it to you. Why?" Natasha pushes. 'So, she knew. She played me from the start.' I turn the question back on her. If she knew Fury gave me the drive, then maybe she knows other things too. "What's on it?" I demand. "I don't know," Natasha tells me. I didn't believe her, "Stop lying." She snaps, "I only act like I know everything, Rogers." And that's the problem. The act. It's hard to tell which is a performance and which wasn't. I was getting tired of this cloak-&-dagger tactic.**

**"Bet you knew that Fury hired the mercs," I say. Still trying to put that one together. Why would Fury do that? Natasha didn't seem too surprised. "Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty. Fury needed a way in, and that was his ticket, and yours," she tells me. That was the difference between us. Natasha, Raijin, and Karai were never surprised when someone did the wrong thing or the risky thing. Their world is the land of the gray. Nothing is so simple as black and white. For now, the question is, can I trust her. Far as I could tell Natasha's playing a game with me and I didn't like it. I needed to know what she knew about Fury's death. "I'm not going to ask again," I growl, squeezing her arm. There's a pause. "I know who killed Fury," she says, "Most of the Intelligence community don't believe they exist. The once that do calls them Cerberus. A mercenary unit credited for a dozen black ops. Assassination, terrorism, you name it, they did it. Their most lethal asset is known as the Winter Soldier. Been active for the last 50 years." A 50-year career as an assassin? That shouldn't be possible. Unless he's a SUPER or using some crazy life extension technology. At this point, I shouldn't be surprised if that the case after everything I experienced. "They're ghosts," I say. Natasha nods, "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Someone shot out my vehicle near Odessa. Lost control and went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I covered my VIP, so he shot him through me," she pulls up her shirt to reveal a nasty looking scar, "Soviet Slug. No rifling. Bye, bikini." "Yeah, I'm sure you look terrible in those now," I say more coldly then intended. The red-headed spy ignores that. "Going after them is a dead end. I know, I'd tried. As you said, they're ghosts," she says, holding up the USB drive. I take the device, "Then let's find out what the ghosts want."**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Excalibur]**

**From a distance, I can see the carrier-ship is heavily damaged. It's a miracle that it's still above water. Danvers taps her comlink, "This is Carol Danvers, what's the situation?" Silent. "Again, this is Carol Danvers, calling the Excalibur. Do anyone copy?" Nothing. A pinch of panic settles in. Once the quinjet is right over the carrier, Danvers opens the rear doors and soars out the aircraft with Karai and me right behind her. Landing, the three of us dart straight inside, weapon at the aim.**

**Running the hall, my eyes glance at the dead bodies of SHIELD agents sprawled across the floor. A terrifying scream pierces the hallway. We run toward the source. Coming around a corner, the three of us run into a squad of armed soldiers. Karai and I quickly get into a combat stance while Danvers charge up fists of photon energy. "Hold! Friendlies!" a female voice calls out. A female soldier steps out from the crowd. Jasmine Turok. "Turok!" Danvers calls out, taking the woman in a tight hug, happy to see she's still alive. "Danvers. I'm happy you're alright," the other woman says and peers over to Karai and me, "PARAGADES." We give her a slight nod in acknowledgment. Danvers pulls back from the hug, "Turok, what the hell is going on?!" "No idea. All hell just broke loose. We were caught completely off-guard. The STRIKE unit turned on us and started killing everyone," she tells me. Danvers snaps her head up, shocked, "STRIKE? But they're SHIELD?" Fury's messages reverberate in the back of my thought, 'SHIELD compromised.' "Where're the other survivors?" I ask. "Mac and the other engineers are held-up in the command center. I lost track of everyone else," Turok tells me. Something behind the squad catches my eyes. A shimmer. One of the soldiers cries out in pain as an energy blade pierces out his chest from his back. The lifeless soldier is dropped without care to the floor. Danvers quickly pulls Turok behind her, protectively. The shadow grabs another agent, uses him as a shield, fires on the other two, then snaps the last one's neck. The stealth-camo switches off, revealing a woman in a black-clad combat-suit. The assassin peers at us in amusement, "Oh, look at what we have here? More little piggies for the grinder." From around the corner, a squad of armed mercs comes running. The lead merc spots Danvers, "Capture the Hybrid. Kill the others." The troopers began to rain down bullets, forcing us back. Karai, Danvers, Turok, and I start to open fire, dropping six of them. We make a break for the hanger-bay.**

**[Hanger-bay.] The four of us engage the mercs in combat. I punch a merc in the face, knocking him out with one blow. Another I drop dead with a double-tap-shot to the chest and head. Tackle merc#3 to the ground. Getting into a dominant position, I jam my pistol under his jaw and pull the trigger. Merc#4 tries to come at me with a combat-machete. I deflect the swing, slam an elbow across his jaw, hip-throw him to the ground, then shoot him in the head. Sprinting, I draw my combat-knife, sink the blade into merc# 5's arm, drag it down, slicing the arm from shoulder to hand.**

**The man howls. I finish the merc off by sliding the blade across his throat. The merc leader beelines straight to Danvers. Making the first move, CM fires a photon blast. The merc dashes to the side, moves in close, and punches her in the gut, enhances the strike by charging the blow with her powers, sending CM crashing to the wall. The merc hits her with a powerful jump-knee attack to the chest. Conjuring energy around her fist, the assassin turns the aura into a sword-like energy blade, jamming it into CM's shoulder. She shrieks out in anguish. The merc grips her by the throat. "Well, that's disappointing and unsatisfying. And here I did this work to set the mood for a real fight," the merc says. CM starts to charge a blast. Acting fast, the merc throws the Kree/Human hybrid onto her back and rams the energy blade through her right-hand.**

**"AAARRRGGHH!" CM cries. Nearly lost consciousness due to the pain. The merc bends down over Danvers, smacks her across the face. "No. Can't let you pass out now. Before I put an end to your miserable existence, I'm going to make an example out of you. A message to all the masked vigilantes and wannabe heroes. Those who oppose NEO-HYDRA will suffer. Their torture will be legendary," she hisses, raising her energy blade for the killing blow. From out nowhere, multiple shots hit the assassin in the chest, dropping her. Karai, gun aimed, rushes toward Danvers, grabs her and drags her to a safe distance. An energy blast nearly takes their heads off. We all wheel around to see it's the merc, back on her feet, glaring hatefully at Karai and Danvers. "I wasn't done playing with that," the mercenary snarls. Karai readies herself for a fight.**

**[Karai POV]**

**"Judging by your getup, you must be with the mercs," I say. The masked woman tilts her head in amusement, "Code-name's Skeith." The dead soldiers' image flash in my mind, "You're going to pay for what you did." She laughs callously under her mask, "Don't talk shit if you can't back it up, cur." I rush forward, throwing a punch. Skeith blocks the attack and counters with an energy blast. My armor manages to shield me from some of the damage, but it still sends me sliding back. Skeith attacks with a high hook-punch. I drop low under the attacking arm. Moving fast, Skeith takes hold of me and body-slams me onto the ground. The crazed-bitch tries to cave my head in by stump down on it, but I roll out the way. Just as we're about to go back at it, the door blows open, and a team of SHIELD agents rushes in, gun train on Skeith. "You got lucky, cur. Next time you won't be," Skeith growls hatefully. She transforms her body into neon light and disappears. I turn to the SHIELD team. Behind them step out their commander. Jacob Picard.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Mall, Washington DC, USA]**

**"First rule about going on the run. Don't run. Walk," Nat tells as we stride through one of DC many large shopping malls. We were both dressed in civilian clothing. Nat added a hat and a pair of fake glasses to my disguise. The clothing style is of a modern-day hipster. I wasn't a fan of it but it only temporary. We wander into a computer store and boot up a free to uses laptop in the back. "The drive has a level six homing program. Soon as we plug it in, they'll know exactly where we are," Nat says. A mall acted as a double-edged sword if you are trying to avoid pursuit. In one scenario, you can blend in with the crowd to avoid the pursuers, but if the situation goes wrong, you're one advantage turn to your biggest optical. "How long do we have?" I ask. "9 minutes," Nat inserts the flash drive, "From now." Nat starts to type away at the computer, "Fury was right about the ship. Somebody's trying to hide something." I scan the store for potential threats. So far, so good. Glance down at the screen over Nat's shoulder. "The drive is protected by some AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands." "Can you override it?" I question. "Yeah. The person who wrote this is slightly smarter than me," she says, working, "I'm going to try one Karai's hacking tactics." Nat spawns a new program that starts to probe the drive's security, "Running a tracer. It's a program she wrote to track hostile malware. So, if we can't read the file, we could at least find out where it came from."**

**One of the store's employees walks up to greet us, "Can I help you with anything?" Nat smiles at him, "No. My fiancé with just helping me with some honeymoon destination." Nat pushes me forward to block the employee's view. "Right. We're getting married," I tell the man, nod and smile. The man smiles back, "Congratulations. Where are you guys thinking about going?" For some odd reason, I thought about telling him Jersey, but there was no way in hell he was going to believe that. "I'm debating between London or France," I say. The men nod, accepting the answer. For a moment, the man looks at me a bit more closely. A flash of panic. Did he recognize me? Has SHIELD already set a WANTED notice? "I have the same glasses," the man says. I breathe a breath of release. "Wow, you're practically twins," Nat says, sarcastically. "Yeah, I wish," the man says, pointing me, admiringly, "Your man is a specimen. Well, if you need anything, just let me know." The individual leaves. Blush a bit at the last comment the man said. I'm starting to get anxious. The clock is ticking. "You said it'll take 9 minutes," I state, looking at my watch. Cutting it close. "Relax. I got it," Nat says. The waypoint is Wheaton New Jersey. Nat notice my knowing expression, "You know the place?" "Yeah. It where I was trained. Let's go," I tell her.**

**Exiting the store, we make our way through the mall toward the exit. I spot the strike team hunting us. So far, they hadn't noticed Nat and I. "Standard tac team. Two behind, two across, and two coming straight toward us," I say, planning out a scenario, "If they make us, I'll engage, you hit the south escalator to the metro." "Shut up and put your arm around me. Laugh at something I said," she says. Despite being a little perplexed, I did as instructed and laugh. The laugh was fake and forced, but the STRIKE commandos go by without a second glance. As we hit the escalator, Rumlow is coming up to us. 'Shit.' Nat wheels around to face me, "Kiss me." "What?" I ask, shocked. "Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable," she tells me. "Yeah, they do," I say. She rolls her eyes, places a very memorable kiss on my lips. It lasted the whole escalator ride down. I quickly become aware that I'm rocking a hard-on. "Still uncomfortable?" Nat teases with a little gleam in her eyes. "Not the word I would use," I say, following behind her.**

**[Car.] We drive in a pick-up truck to Wheaton, New Jersey. "When did Captain America learn to steal a car," Nat asks for the first time since we started the drive. "Nazi Germany," I tell her. She nods. "And we're borrowing it," I say in defense, "Take your feet off the dashboard." "Boy Scout," Nat murmurs under her breath, taking her feet down. Her brow raises, "I got a question to wish you don't need to answer. But I feel if you don't answer, it's answering it." I roll my eyes, "What?" "Was that your first kiss since 1945?" I glance at her then back at the road, embarrassed, "That bad, huh." "I didn't say that," Nat tries. "Kind of sound like you are," I say. "No. I just wondered how much practice you had," she tells me. Now she was fooling with me. "You don't need practice," I say. "Everyone needs practice," Nat argues. "It wasn't my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95. Not dead," I say. Technically speaking, Natasha was my second kiss since waking up in the modern world. My first kiss was with a woman in a celebration party, Post-Battle Of New York. I wasn't into it. Honestly, I felt a little disgusted with myself. It felt like I was cheating. My heart still belongs to a woman that moved on a long time ago. Found a new lover, got married, had children, had a life.**

**"Nobody special than?" Nat asks. 'Peggy…' "It's hard to find someone with shared life experiences," I tell the spy. "That okay. Make something up," she says. Then the whole relationship is built on a lie. Nothing's real. I can't do that with a potential partner. Won't. "Like you?" I ask. "Truth is a matter of circumstance. It's not all things to all people, all the time. Neither am I," Nat says. 'Maybe to you.' "That's a hard way to live," I tell her. A part of me wondered what happened in her life that made her so cynical. "It's a good way not to die, though," Nat speaks, a distant look in her eyes. I sympathize, but I needed to know who I could count on, and Nat's evasion makes me a little nervous. "It hard to trust someone when you don't know who that person is," I voice. "Yeah," she looks at me and asks, "Who do you want me to be?" 'That not how it works.' I sigh, "How about a friend?" Nat smiles, but it didn't reach her eyes, "If you want friends, there's a chance, you're in the wrong line of work."**

**[Karai POV]**

**[Excalibur]**

**We finish up gathering the last of the dead. Took better care of the fallen SHIELD agents than the mercs. Raijin kneels by one of the dead mercs and searches through the man's gear. I didn't like the face he's giving off. Getting to his feet, he strolls to me, handing me the pack. "They're using SHIELD tech," he whispers. When he told me that, I quickly look into the bag. It was true they were using SHIELD tech. Not just standard-issue equipment. High-end-gear. Things SHIELD use to hunt down rouge SUPERS. This whole situation was getting more and more out of control by the minute. 'NEO-HYDRA. Got to be fucking kidding me.' We need to get in contact with Coulson, Hill, or Cap. Jasmine Turok walks to us, "Thanks for the backup. If you guys hadn't shown up when you did, we all be dead right now." I nod at her word. Over my shoulder, I glance at Commander Picard. He calls Raijin and me over and drills us for info on what was going on. "It's an attack from inside SHIELD," I tell him, "By HYDRA or NEO-HYDRA as they're calling themselves." "Of course, they're calling themselves something with 'NEO' in the title. We got Neo-Nazis. Why not NEO-HYDRA?" Danvers says sarcastically. As expected, Commander Picard is having a hard time believing what we told him, but given what transpired, he didn't argue. Suddenly, Epyon tags two POIs. Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanov. Raijin and I beeline to the quinjet. "Where are you two going?" Danvers calls out. I turn back, "Cap and Nat are in trouble. We need to get to them." Sure, there's no doubt they could handle themselves, but we didn't want to take the risk. We lost too much already. Danvers follows on our heel, "Well, you're not going without me."**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, USA]**

**I park the car in front of an abandoned military training base. The place where I became Captain America. It's surreal seeing it now. From my perspective, it was only a few months ago that this place was still buzzing with life; instructors and trainees were going about their daily routine. "This is it," Nat says, "Has it changed much?" "Not much," I say, flashbacking to a distant memory. We sweep the area. Natasha is saying something, but I'm not paying attention. I'm too focused on something that's out of place. "What is it?" Nat asks, alerted. I point, "Army regulation forbid storing munitions within 500 meters from the barracks. The building is in the wrong place." I break open the lock, and we go inside.**

**At the bottom of the staircase, I find a light switch. Surprisingly the lights still work. "This is SHIELD," Nat mummers. "Maybe where it started," I say. Both of us walk the path of rows of desk and file cabinet. Enter one of the offices. "There's Tony's father," Nat says, as we stop in front of a roll three photos. Colonel Phillips, Howard Stark, and Peggy Carter. "Who the girl?" Nat asks. I wasn't sure if she honestly didn't know or if she is just playing games. My gaze lingers on Peggy a little longer. Without answering Nat's question, I walk away. 'Let her go, old man, let her go.' I stop in front of a bookshelf. Between the small gap, there's an air current. "If you have a secret office," I pull the bookshelf to the side, "Why hide the elevator?" Compared to the rest of the facility, the elevator looks to be more modern. It had a digital keypad. Nat hacks it with her specialized phone.**

**[Lower level.] The elevator door opens to a large, dimly lit room full of old computers, like the kind of technology that would be considered cutting edge in my time. Howard Stark would have laughed, and Tony Stark would've called an antique dealer to take it away and sell it all for a penny. "This can't be the data point," Nat says, "The technology is ancient." Oddly, there's a USB drive slot at the base of the old computer. Someone has been here recently. Nat plugs the flash drive into it. All around us, the old machines work to life. A prompt appears on the main computer screen. 'Initialize system?' the computer displays. "Y-E-S spells yes," Nat enters the word, "Shall we play a game." The corner of my lip tilts slightly upward to Nat's reference of the 1983 movie War games. A movie considered by many that shaped the Hacker culture into what it is today. Least, according to Karai and Raijin. The camera on the top of the computer swivels to look at each of us. Flickering green lines dissolve into a face on the screen.**

**"Rogers, Steven. Born in 1918. Romanov, Natasha. Born in 1964," the voice says. A chill runs down my spine to the familiar voice. "Must be some recording," Nat says. 'It's not.' I didn't know how I know, but I knew. "I am not a recording, Fraulein," the machine snaps angrily, "I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I am." The computer shows a photo of an old enemy on one of the monitors. "You know this thing?" Nat questions me. I nod, "Arnim Zola. The head scientist of HYDRA." "He has been dead for years." "Correction, Captain. Look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, was worth saving, under 200 feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain," Zola says. "How? How did you get here?" I demand. "I was invited," the Mechanical voice deadpans. "Operation Paperclip," Nat states, "SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value." "They foolishly believed I could help their causes. Instead, they unknowingly secured HYDRA's survival for the new age. Cut off one head; two more will take its place." I didn't believe it, "HYDRA died with the Red Skull." The soulless machine laughs, though I doubt it ever had a soul, "You simply destroyed a body. An ideology is nearly impossible to kill, Captain. You of all people should know that. '"Prove it," I growl. One of the computers' screens lit up, displaying multiple images. A montage of historical events from World War II onwards. "HYDRA was founded on the principle that Humanity couldn't be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite within SHIELD. For 70 NEO-HYDRA has been feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate, history was changed," Zola tells us. "That's impossible," Nat sneers, "SHIELD would've stopped you." "Accidents will happen," Zola says, "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is ready to sacrifice its freedom for security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise."**

**The monitor displays the three new Helicarriers. SHIELD compromised; the words keep echoing in my head. This is what Fury uncovered. This is why he was killed. I can feel my blood boiling with rage. "We won, Captain," Zola says smugly, "Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero-sum." I punch the main computer screen displaying Zola's face; it didn't do any good. Zola appears on another screen. "What's on the Drive?!" I snap. "Project Insight requires insight. So, I wrote an algorism," Zola states. "What kind of algorism? What does it do?" Nat demands. "The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Heavy reinforced doors shut down over the elevator, cutting us from our only exit. I throw the shield to jam the door open, but it bounces off. 'Shit.' Nat's phone buzzes, "Steve, we got a bogey. Short-range ballistic missile." "Who fired it?" I ask. The hardened redhead spy looks scared for the first time I could remember, "SHIELD." "I have been stalling, Captain," Zola says. Nat grabs the USB drive. I scan the room for any kind of protection, saw a ventilation crate on the floor, and rip it open. "Admit it. It's better this way," Zola finishes, "We are, both of us, out of time." Nat and I dive into the crate. The missile hit.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Quinjet.] In the distance, we spot a massive explosion. "Speed up, Danvers!" Karai cries, voice full of concern. Nodding, Danvers boosts the thrusters. We land on the smoldering ruin of Camp Lehigh. Weapon at the ready, Karai, Danvers, and I sweep through the wreckage, hoping to find survivors. The HUD scans the surroundings, picks up two life signs. Rapidly, the three of us sprint over. From the rubble, a figure emerges from the debris, carrying an unconscious woman. It's Cap. "BOSS!" Karai and I yell out, running to him. The first super-soldier shoots his head up, eyes wide, "Raijin. Karai. You're alive?! But Rumlow told me he killed you two." I shake my head, "Tried. But we're not easy to get rid of." "Plus, Danvers saved our asses at the last minutes," Karai adds. Cap places Nat on the ground. Karai goes to check her, using the HUD scanner, "No serious injuries. Just a mild concussion. She'll be fine. We need to get out of here." The HUD pings multiple quinjet heading our way. The closest one is touching down a 100-meters out. I pull out a cloak and toss it to Cap. The man catches it, looks at it, puzzled. "It's a stealth-camo cloak," I say. Cap throws it on over himself and Nat. Together, we start to head back to Danvers's quinjet. I turn back just for a moment; the HUD zooms in on STRIKE commandos searching the area, with them is Drake and Rumlow. A part of me is looking forward to another shot at the merc. I push on, following the others.**

**[Quinjet.] After a few minutes, Nat finally comes to. She gazes around the jet. Eyes fall on me, Karai, Danvers, and lastly, Cap. "What I missed?" Nat asks. "Not much," Cap tells her. The five of us share our accounts on what happened to each of us before linking-up. Cap tells us Fury was dead, killed by an assassin with a metal arm. Danvers's eyes glow bright with rage. Karai places a hand over her shoulder to calm her down. "Where are we going, Cap?" I ask the AVENGERS' team leader. The man glances at each of us, "We need to lay low for a short while. A place the enemy won't track us to." "Got a place in mind?" Nat questions. "Maybe," he says.**

**[Drake POV]**

**Along with Rumlow and his team of STRIKE commandos, we spread out to pick through the wreckage for any survivors to finish them off. It's our job to make sure Captain America and Black Widow hadn't gotten out alive of the old base. The Zola loose end is tied up. That much is for sure. Well, at least one of Zola's AI copies. The HUD picks up a trail leading out the base. 'They survived the decimation.' Rumlow spots what I found, and taps his comlink, "Send in the Asset."**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Wilson's house, Washington DC]**

**The five of us stand in the back of a suburban home. Cap knocks on the door. After a short wait, the door opens to an African American man, clearly military or ex-military, from the way he carries himself. Cap does all the talking. "Hey, man?" the man says, confused. "We're sorry about this, Sam, but we need a place to lay low," he says. Nat jumps in, "Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Sam looks at each of us, then steps to the side, "Not everyone."**

**Cap and Nat are cleaning themselves up in the guest room. Karai, Danvers, and I stay in the Kitchen. In the corner of my eye, I notice Danvers studying Sam as he cooked. "See something you like?" I say. "Yeah- What? No… Just scanning the area?" she says, sheepishly. Karai smirks, shaking her head. It was the easiest way to make light of the situation. We need a morale boost. "Well, lunch is ready. You guys do eat, right?" I laugh a little, "Yeah, man; we do eat. We're not aliens." "I'm half-alien," Danvers says. Sam gazes at the blonde woman, wondering if she was kidding. "She's not joking," Karai says, taking a plate, "Thanks for the meal." "Huh. I got no words for that," Sam says, disbelieving. That made Danvers a little nervous. Going by what we know, not many people outside of SHIELD or the AVENGERS knew she's a Kree/Human hybrid. "Are you okay with that?" Danvers asks, tensed. Sam notices her body language. "No, it's all good. Really. Just not how I pictured my day playing out," he assures her, holds out a hand, "With all the commotion, I forgot to introduce myself. Sam Wilson." Danvers takes his hand, smiles brightly, "Carol Danvers. Code-name's Captain Marvel." Sam turns to Karai and me. "Corvo. Code-name's Raijin," I state with a small salute. "Samus. Code-name's Karai," she tells the man, taking a bite of the meal.**

**After a while, Cap and Nat enter the living area. Sitting at the table, we all put a dent in Sam's groceries and begin to run through the situation. "The question is who in SHIELD would have the authority to launch a domestic missile strike?" Nat asks. "Pierce," Cap says. "I never liked that bureaucratic asshat," I growl. Karai raises an eyebrow, "Dude, you don't like any politician." "And you see the reason why," I retort. "Well, that politician happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Nat voices, "And has nearly unlimited resources, SHIELD, and an army of mercs at his disposal." "He's not working alone. An operation like this is too big for one person," Cap says, "Zola's Algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." "So was Sitwell," Nat points out. Everyone who was on that mission gazes at each other, putting all the pieces together. 'Sitwell is in on it. Fucking A.' "The real question is how five most WANTED people grab a SHIELD officer?" Cap says, thinking. Sam moves toward the table, placing a file down, "The answer is, you don't." Cap takes the folder, "What's this?" "Consider it a resume," Sam tells him. Nat looks over Cap's shoulder to the papers, "Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission that was you?" Sam nods. "You didn't mention your friend's a Paratrooper, Army," Danvers says to Cap. I catch a glimpse of the photo. Sam, along with another man, was wearing a non-standard combat-suit. "I heard about that mission. Couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. You guys used stealth chute?" Karai states. "No. We used these," Sam says, handing another folder. The cover reads, 'Exo-7 Falcon.' "I thought you said you were a pilot," Cap says. Sam smiles, "I never said I was a pilot." Cap slightly shakes his head, "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a reason." Sam crosses his arms, "The odds you're facing, you guys need all the help you can get. I'm not sitting this fight out." I wheel to Cap, "He has a point, Boss." He sighs, "Okay. Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" indicating the Exo-7 Falcon suit. "The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall," he tells us. The five of us smile at that. "Won't be a problem," Cap says.**

**[Quinjet.] After our little detour and grabbing the suit. Sam suits-up in the Exo-7 Falcon combat-suit. "It's no Iron Man suit, but it still freaking cool," Danvers says, admiringly. Sam nod at the woman in thanks.**

**[1 day later, Washington DC]**

**[Rooftop.] Down on street-level, Sitwell and Senator Stern exit a business building near the capitol. When the senator leaves, Sitwell's phone rings. The man answers immediately. Karai hacked the phone and makes Alexander Pierce's name displays on the caller ID screen. "Yes, sir," he says into the phone. "The crab cakes here are delicious," a voice who wasn't Alexander Pierce speaks through the earpiece. "Who is this?" Sitwell demands. "The good-looking guy in the sunglasses, on your 10 o'clock. Sitwell peers around and spots Sam sitting at a table in a coffee house patio. He raises his glass in a mock toast. "What do you want?" he asks. "You're going to go around the corner to you right. There's a gray car waiting for you. We're going to take a little ride," Sam tells him. Sitwell smirks, "Why would I do that? You do realize the penalty for threatening a federal Officer?" Karai shines a red dot on Sitwell's chest from her sniper rifle. I smirk at that. Clearly, she's itching to have some payback. "Because that tie looks very expensive. And I hate to mess it up," Sam warns.**

**Sitwell is thrown through the door by Cap. Getting him on his feet, Cap pushes the man to the rooftop edge, "Tell me about Zola's algorithm." "Never, heard of it," Sitwell says. I punch him in the face, "Lie to us again, and it'll be worst." "What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Cap asks. "Throwing up. I get seasick." 'Well, it wasn't a lie.' Cap holds Sitwell over the edge, "I'm not going to ask again." Sitwell composes himself, smiles confidently, "Is this little display meant to intimidate me. That you're going to drop me if I don't talk. Come on, Rogers, we both know it's not your style." Cap pulls him in and cleans off his jacket, "You're right. It's not. It's hers." Cap moves to the side, and Nat push-kicks Sitwell over the edge. The man's scream fades into the distance. "Damn. I wanted to do that," Karai whispers. Nat turns to Cap, "Wait, what about that girl from accounting, Laura…" "Lillian," Cap corrects, "Lip piercing, right?" "Yeah, she's cute," Nat says nonchalantly. Cap shakes his head, "I'm not ready for that." The female spy is still playing Cap's matchmaker. Both Karai and I smile at the duo. Sitwell's screams come back. Over the edge, Sam and Danvers fly in, carrying Sitwell. They drop him back onto the roof. All of us stride over to the squirming Sitwell. He raises his hands in surrender, panicked, "Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing targets!" "What target?" Cap demands. "You, The AVENGERS, Nick Fury, the TV anchor in Cairo, the high school student in Queens, the street-level vigilantes in Hell's Kitchen, Phil Coulson, Stephen Strange, anyone who is a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in the future." "future? How could it know?" Cap asks, shocked. Sitwell chuckles nervously, "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's digital information to predict their future." "What then?" Cap question. "Isn't it obvious. HYDRA starts crossing them off. A few million at a time," he tells us. I draw my pistol and shoot Sitwell with stun-blast, knocking the man out cold.**

**[Drake POV]**

**[Rooftop.] I stroll to the unconscious Stillwell. Missed the targets by 10 minutes. I breathe in vexation. Kick the man awake. He looks around, panicked. Sitwell gazes up at me, eyes wide with terror. I grin down at him under my mask, "The boss wants a word." "No. No. No. Please don't. I give you anything you want. Do anything. Please do not hand me over to Zemo," Sitwell begs. I roll my eyes.**

**[HYDRA Base, Washington DC]**

**I push Sitwell through the double doors. The man lost his footing and falls to the ground. In the center of the room stands Zemo, with him, are the rest of CERBERUS. On his knees, Sitwell begins to beg for his life. Zemo simply ignores his cries. "Like the Red Skull before me, I do not tolerate failure or weakness. And you, Sitwell, have shown you are both a failure and weak." "Master Zemo, please give me another chance. I will not fail you again. I will make right by you." Zemo tilts his head, "Indeed, you will not fail me again." Winter Soldier emerges from the shadows from out of nowhere and punches a hole through Sitwell's head. The body drops lifelessly to the ground. I grin at the display. 'Love watching you work, Winter.'**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Quinjet.] It's a quiet ride back. We're all still processing what Sitwell told us. HYDRA's end goal is to use an advance prediction system to eliminate any potential threat to their bid for power, now or in the future. 'Clever.' "What's the play, Cap," I ask the leader of the AVENGERS. Just as he's about to answer the radio abruptly comes to life with Coulson's voice calling for help. "Mayday! Mayday! This is 6-1-6; we're under attack! I say again we're under attack by two unmanned drones! We need immediate support!" Cap grabs the radio receiver, "Coulson! We got your distress call! We're on our way, just hold on!" Danvers checks the radar to pinpoint Coulson's location, "The SHIELD-BUS is five minutes northwest from where we are." The quinjet sharply turns its trajectory and jets forward.**

**The two drones are hot on the BUS's tail, chasing them down like a pack of birds of prey. It tries to shake off the drones but with no avail. Moving in, the quinjet locks-on the two drones and shot them down with two missiles. "Thanks for the save," Coulson says over the comlink.**

**[SHIELD-BUS]**

**[Mission-room.] Cap finishes up running Coulson and his team through everything that happened within the last 48 hours. "HYDRA? This whole thing is their doing?" Coulson says disbelievingly. Cap gives him a nod. The man suddenly looks older than he should. He rubs his hands over his face, tired. A set of numbers displays over the HUD; I pull it up on the wall computer. Everyone eyes it. "What is this?" Cap asks. "No idea. It just popped up on the HUD," I tell him. Coulson withdraws his SHIELD badge and holds it up to us. Embedded within the badge are the same set of numbers. '49 27 41 -80 3 40.' Danvers studies the digits, "These are coordinates." "Coordinates to where?" Sam asks. Skye goes for her laptop, runs a search, "The Canadian mountains." "There's only one person who could've sent these. And this totally his style," Coulson says to the whole group. "Fury," Danvers, Karai, Nat, and I all whispers in unison. Cap focuses on Coulson, "Are you absolutely sure? It could be a set up by HYDRA." The man stares into the super-soldier's eyes, "I serve with Fury nearly my entire career. No one knows that man better than I do. This is him. I know it." With a nod, Cap turns to the team, "Be ready for a fight. If this a trap, I don't want us to get blindsided." The senior agent circles to his second in command, "May, set a course to those coordinates." For the first time, I notice Ward wasn't present. With everything that was going on, I had completely forgotten about the man. "Where's Ward?" I ask. Everyone in Coulson's team tense up. "We don't know. He was called on a mission by John Garrett a few days ago. Haven't heard from either one of them since," Skye tells me. That triggers a few red flags for me, but I keep it to myself.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Canadian mountains, Canada]**

**The BUS touches down on an open field. "The coordinates point to a 7-mile hike from here," Coulson says, "Terrain's pretty rough, even if it wasn't covered with snow." Raijin smacks a mag into his assault rifle, "Expect the unexpected." As we all exit the BUS, I signal the PARAGADES to run recon. Weapons at the aim, they dash off ahead, switching on their stealth-camo. Taking the lead, I move into the snow-covered woods, the team following behind me. We walk for nearly an hour. "This is it," Coulson calls out, "Stay alert." Everyone sweeps the area for threats. A secret passage opens on the mountain wall. Agent Hill stands on the other side, arms crossed over her chest, "You finally made it."**

**[SHIELD HQ, Canada]**

**We follow Hill into the base, where she leads us into a spacious mission-room. What we saw waiting for us filled me with a little bit of optimism. In the core of the room stands Nick Fury. Battered and bruised but definitely him. Everyone looks at the man, both shocked and confused. "How? We saw you die on the operating table?" I challenge. Fury smirks knowingly, "Tetrodotoxin-B. Slows the pulse to a beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so well with him, but we found a use for it." Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" I ask. "Any attempt on Fury's life had to look successful," Hill interjects. "Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury says with a nod, "Besides, I didn't know how deep the conspiracy went."**

**Fury holds a photo of Alexander Pierce, "This man declined a Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement; it's a responsibility. See, it's things like these are why I have trust issues," putting the photo down. Nat leans in, "We need to stop those Helicarriers from launching." "Easier said than done. Plus, Pierce already locked me out of the system. It just us. Everyone in this room," Fury states. Hill jumps in the conversation, rotating the computer to face us, "Once the Helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate the insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized." Fury eyes Karai, "You think can cook up a virus that can destroy all traces of the Insight system?" Karai bows, indicating she can get it done. "One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work because if even one of those ship remains operational, a lot of innocent people will die," Hill says. Fury sighs, "We have to assume everyone on those Helicarriers are HYDRA. We upload the Virus and take down HYDRA along with Pierce." That moment a trusted SHIELD agent runs into the mission room, panicked, "We got a serious problem. The HUB is under siege by mercenaries and HYDRA." Fury stares directly at me, "Cap, this is yours." "What's at the HUB?" I ask, curious. "Everything. Specs, Asgardian weaponry, and high-end tech. Things that can bring the world to ruins if it fell into the wrong hands," Fury tells me and the others. I gaze at the team. They stand ready. For a moment, I'm reminded of another unit from another life. "Gear up. We have a job to do," I say. "Yes, Sir," they all voice at once.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[The HUB, USA]**

**The quinjet flies in hot toward the HUB facility. In range, the team jumps out of the exit. The site was chaotic. Both SHIELD and HYDRA commandos are in a heated gun battle. By the carnage, SHIELD is losing. In the middle of the warzone, my HUD zooms in on the enemy's leader. A man in black-clad combat-suit with a metal arm. 'It's him. The man who nearly murdered Fury. The Winter Soldier.' The HYDRA commandos and mercenaries start to open fire on us. We quickly jump behind the parked cars for cover. I fire back, killing one of the mercs with a headshot. The Winter Soldier grabs hold of a grenade launcher, shoots off a charge at me. Acting fast, Cap dashes to me and takes the hit himself. The blast sends slamming into a nearby vehicle. "CAP!" I yell. Still firing, the HYDRA soldiers push forward. We return shots. The man with the metal arm starts to spam grenades. One almost gets Nat, but she manages to avoid it. Popping off a blast with her Glock, Nat manages to graze the Winter Soldier, knocking off his goggles. Enraged, he takes out an M4 rifle and shoots. Nat dodges the oncoming fire, makes a break for it. The Winter Soldier goes off after her. Danvers flies by blasting energy of photon at the approaching mercs. From out of nowhere, a goon nails shock bolas at Danvers, bounding her. She drops, screaming out in pain as fill her body with electricity. Sam rushes to her aid. He tries to get the device off of the Kree/Human hybrid. Two HYDRA soldiers ascend on them, gun set at the ready. Karai and I get the jump on the pricks. I envelop my arms on the goon's neck and break it. Karai stabs her guy in the throat.**

**Sam gets the bolas off of Danvers. "Thanks, Sam," the blonde tells him. "No problem," he says, glance around, "Seems these guys are packing high-end gear." "Worst. They using weapons SHIELD use to take down rouge SUPERS," I say, peer around, "I hate to say it, but the HUB is a lost cause." "We need to get to the NERVE center and wipe the system," Skye says, laying low. I nod, "Karai go with her. We'll hold the fort." Both of them run into the building.**

**[Karai POV]**

**We prowl the main corridor. Skye taps my shoulder, holding up the hard drive, "Take it. I haven't been trained to hold up under torture yet." "Oh, fun times. You'll like it," I say sarcastically. She rolls her eyes. Getting close to the NERVE center, we hear footsteps coming our way. Skye and I duck into a nearby room. Leaving the door open just a crack, I could see a squad of HYDRA commandos running through the hall. 'Shit.' Peer back to Skye, "Stay here." "What are you going to do?" she asks, concerned. "I'm going to pave a path for you," I say. "She places a hand on my shoulder, "There's like a hundred armed guys out there." "Seven actually," I correct, "It'll be fine. I got this." Though the crack of the door, I toss a smoke grenade. When it goes off, the whole hallway fills up with thick white smoke. Using the smoke as cover, I jump to action.**

**Stepping out of the room, I take out the first person I see with a double-tap. The goon behind him goes for his weapon. I close the distance fast, pin his gun to his chest, shoot him in the leg, force the man to double over, and then finish him off with a shot to the head's back. A HYDRA commando tries to get the drop on me through the smoke, but I quickly grab hold of him, use him as a human shield. I push the merc forward. Thinking it was me, four HYDRA goons open fire on him. I quickly gun down the four before they could react. I do a scan for threats; it's clear.**

**For now, at least. I make my way back to Skye. The girl jumps back as I open the door. "See, told you I got this," I say. We rush toward the Nerve center. Skye jake in the hard drive. The drive starts to wipe clean the data. "Damn it," Skye shouts. "What's wrong?" I ask. "HYDRA managed to extract some of the equipment housed here," she tells me. I sigh, "We can't do anything about that now. We can at least make sure HYDRA doesn't get everything." Skye nods understandingly.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**Regaining consciousness, I start to get to my feet. Just then, the bus is being peppered with bullets. Using my shield as cover, I dash forward and out the rear window. They spot me. The commandos begin to focus fire, pinning me down. I couldn't move. It was only a matter of time before one of them flank me. Upon the bridge, Sam, Raijin, Danvers fire on the HYDRA commandos, killing three of them. I sprint forward to the heavy gunner, leaping into the air, smashing my shield's edge at his skull. Glance up at the four on the bridge. "Go! We got this!" Sam calls down to me. I run off to find Nat.**

**Down the path, I saw Nat running. She yells to the civilian workers to get out of the area. A shot booms through the air. Nat yelps, drops to her knees, blood flowing freely from her shoulder. The Winter Soldier springs on top of a car, getting a clear view of Nat. He readies the rifle. I speed to the assassin, gaining his attention. He turns and slams a punch with his metal arm. I manage to block the strike with my shield. The assassin knocks me back with a kick, sending me falling off the car. The man draws a machine gun pistol from his back, shoots. I dodge behind the car, holding my shield up to protect myself from the ricochets of bullets and flying glass. Just then, there's a click. A sound that indicates a weapon ran out of ammo. My opening presents itself. I leap from behind the car, kicking the pistol away. Acting fast, the Winter Soldier pulls out another gun. He gets off a few shots, but I block it. I jump, hitting him with a jump-punch. The blow causes him to drop the weapon. I try to finish the fight with a shield strike, but the Winter Soldier grabs the shield. We wrestle for control. He slips me and punches me in the chest, taking my shield. I sprint forward. The assassin throws the shield at me. I avoid the disk as it embedded itself in the back door of a van. Now a knife in hand, the Winter Soldiers come at me. We both trade powerful blows, all the while I avoid being slash by the blade. Getting the upper hand, I tag him with a solid right-hook-punch. He staggers. Jumping, I back-spin-kick the Winter Soldier in the chest, sending him flying toward a wall.**

**Dazed, the assassin forces himself to stand ready for another round. I jump-knee him back to the wall and hip-throw him to the ground. The Winter soldier jumps back to his feet and grabs me by the neck, lifting me up, choke-slams me to the ground. The man tries to smash my head in his metal fist, but I roll out the way. Getting to my feet, I call back my shield with my gauntlet. 'Thank you, Tony.' Both of us go at it one last time. It's becoming more apparent to me that his man wasn't normal. He matches me in almost every category. Must be another SUPER-SOLDIER like me.**

**I throw a combination of strikes, getting the Winter Soldier off balance, take his back, grapple him, flip the man over my shoulder. The assassin's mask drops to the ground. The Winter Soldier lands into a roll, gets up, and turns to face me. I gape at his face. 'No. It couldn't be. It's not possible.' The soldier in me was yelling, screaming what I was seeing wasn't real. It's a fake! A cruel and horrible trick set up by HYDRA. 'They're trying to get into your head, old man!' Yet, my soul was telling me it was genuine. "Bucky?" I say, shocked. The name didn't seem to mean anything to the assassin. His cold, emotionless eyes stare straight at me, "Who the hell is Bucky?" he asks rhetorically. The Winter Soldier aims his pistol. I just stand there frozen. Sam flies to the rescue, kicking the assassin away. He recovers, points his gun. Danvers fires a blast. When the smoke clears, the Winter Soldier is gone. The quinjet hovers over the ground. Someone is yelling; I don't know who. In the distance, I could see multiple armored vehicles moving on our location. One of the cars I recognized is Rumlow's. "Boss, we need to get the fuck out of here. Come on!" Raijin shouts, pulling me to the aircraft.**

_**[Years earlier, Brooklyn, New York City]**_

_**Bucky and I are walking to my apartment after Ma's funeral. "The Service was nice," Bucky says. "Yeah, it was," I state in a low voice, still feeling the hurt of the lost. We stop at my apartment door. "Mom and I tried looking for ya after it was all over," he said, "But you were long gone." "Sorry. I wanted to be alone for a while," I tell him. He nods, "I understand. Also, I was going to tell you; you could always stay with us. Know we would never turn you away. It'll be just like when we were kids. All you gotta do is shine my shoes and take out the trash," jokes half-heartedly. "I know Buck. But I could get by on my own," I voice. I pat myself down, trying to find my key. Bucky kicks over a brick where a key lay under it, picking it up, he hands it over to me, "The thing is, you don't have to," places a hand on my shoulder, "I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."**_

**[Present time, SHIELD HQ, Canada]**

**[Living-area.] I sit alone in the room, dwelling on the event that ensued. Worst of all… Bucky. The memory of the fall runs on a content loop. He wasn't dead. My best friend and brother in every way but blood is still alive. He looked directly into my eyes and didn't even recognize me, but he hesitated for a fraction of a moment during our fight. I'm sure of it. My brother was in that shell somewhere. I just need to breakthrough. Fury walks in. "Did you know?" I ask with a sharp tone, almost accusingly. "No," he says, taking a seat next to me, "If I did, I would've told you." For the first time since I met the man, he sounded genuine. "How is it even possible for Sergeant Barnes to still be alive?" he asks, wanting an explanation. I express the only answer I could draw up at the moment, "Zola. Back during the war, Zola Captured Bucky along with his unit and experimented on him. The mad man was trying to create his own version of the SUPER-SOLDIER BIO-ENHANCER. They must've found him after the fall." A wave of guilt runs through me. "None of that was your fault, Steve," Nat says, the spy stands by the door, shoulder patched up, likey Jemma's work. I sigh, "Even when I had nothing. I had Bucky at my side." The whole fiasco was a hard pill to swallow. What's worst, we're going to meet each other again in combat as enemies, aiming to take the other out.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Armory.] "What happened out there?" Karai questions. "Bucky happened," I state simply. Karai tilts her head in confusion, "What?" I fill her in on everything she missed when she was off with Skye carrying out the mission's secondary objective. "Wow. So Bucky's alive," she says, looking to Cap, who was in the living area with Fury and Nat. "And working for HYDRA," I say dryly. "Shit. Poor Cap. I could only imagine what he's going through right now," She says, "Still. Do you think this is going to be a problem?" she asks, keeping her eyes on Cap. I sigh, "I don't know. No doubt Cap is going to try to save Bucky. And if he's forced to, he'll do what necessary." "If he can't?" Karai inquires. "He'll make the right choice. No doubt," I say, confident.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

**[Bucky Barnes POV]**

**[HYDRA Base, Washington DC, USA]**

**I sit staring into space, fighting off the fragments of memories threatening to drive me insane in a secure HYDRA facility as the scientists patch me up from my latest mission. The target had called me Bucky. Why? Did he know me? Did I know him? 'Who's Bucky?' Incoherent memories flash in my head. There was a fall. A blurry image of a man in a blue uniform calling out to me, arm stretched out. Zola leaned over me in a medical room. I remember feeling cold. I remember feeling that I was going to die or did.**

**[Drake POV]**

**Arms-crossed over my chest, I watch as the HYDRA scientists secure the Winter Soldier onto the chair. The asset holds a distance expression, like someone attempting to piece together a puzzle. The mind-wipe is starting to wear off. Suddenly, Winter snaps and attacks the scientist who is repairing his metal arm. The HYDRA soldiers in the room quickly point their weapons on the asset. I grin under my mask. Alexander Pierce enters, orders the soldiers to stand down. He wasn't stupid enough to try to provoke the Winter Soldier. "Mission report," he orders. The Winter Soldier stays silent. "Mission report. Now!" Pierce demands again in a harder tone of voice. Winters says nothing, lost in the fog. Pierce steps closer and back-hand-smack Winter across the face. Now Pierce gets a response, just not the type he wanted. In blinding speed, the Winter Soldier pounces at Pierce and snatches the man by the throat. With wide eyes, the man peers at me, expecting me to intervene. I shake my head. "The only ones who are allowed to discipline their dogs are its masters," Zemo says, strolling in. Everyone quickly salutes the Supreme Commander.**

**Bored, Zemo waves them off and approaches toward the Winter Soldier and Pierce. "Stand down, asset, "he orders. Winter looks over to him then releases his hold on Pierce. Pierce drops to the floor, coughing. Zemo rolls his eyes at the display, faces the Winter Soldier, and orders, "Now then, mission report." Winter wavers for a moment, eyes distance, "The man I faced. Who was he?" Zemo narrows his eyes, "You crossed path with him on another mission." "I knew him," Winter whispers to himself. Zemo catches that. "Yes, you did. He betrayed you and left you to die all those years ago. HYDRA saved you. Healed you. Opened your eyes to the truth," he lies, places a hand on Winter's shoulder, "Your work has been a gift to humankind, Winter. Society is on the tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow we are going to give it a push. You will serve your role." Winter nods absently. Zemo pushes Winter into the machine, "Prep him. Wipe him completely." "Yes, Sir," The scientist says, getting to work preparing the device. The room echoes with Winter's screams as the machine does its task. Zemo stops next to me, "If he waivers, exterminate him." "Sure thing, Boss," I say, bowing my head. He gazes at Pierce, who looks away in shame and embarrassment. "On your feet," Zemo orders. Weakly, Pierce rises. Zemo pouches the man hard in the face, dropping him again, "Don't ever forget your place," looks over to me, "Be ready to move when the order goes out. You, along with the others, will provide additional enforcement."**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[1 day later, SHIELD HQ, Canada]**

**[Training-area.] The outcome of the last was a bitter victory. And there's the whole thing with Cap and the Winter Soldier. 'Talk about the past coming back to bite you in the ass.' Skye walks in, "Hey, I was looking for you," she sits down on a nearby bench, "You disappeared after the op." I fire on the target, hitting center mass, "Sorry. Wanted to blow off some steam after that shit show." Skye gazes downrange at the target, "Clearly." I stow my pistol back in its holster and park myself next to Skye. She leans her head against the wall, "Things are getting chaotic at this point. The funny thing is, after everything, I don't regret joining up with SHIELD." I give off a small smirk at that. Skye sighs, "Thank you." I peer at her, "For what?" "For not treating me like I was nothing. For helping me to be a better version of myself," she tells me. "I think that was more Coulson and the team than me," I say. "It was everyone. Coulson, May, Jemma, Fitz, Ward, Karai, and you," Skye states. We both sit in comfortable silence.**

**[Living-area.] Karai's at her station, hard at work coding the Insight system's virus. On the table lay three palm-size computer-chips. "How's it coming along?" I ask, standing next to her, cross-arms. She leans back in her chair, pulling up her goggles, "It's nearly done. Once it's complete, we'll be ready to take the fight to NEO-HYDRA." I place a hand on Karai's shoulder, "Yeah, we are. We're going to make them pay for everything they did." She downcast her gaze, "The real concern is what happens after." I look at her sympathetically, "The main issue right now is NEO-HYDRA. We'll deal with the aftermath later." Karai nods understandingly, "Right." I place a cup of coffee on the table and a plate of food. "Thanks," she says, "I could always count on you to have my six." "Always," I say.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Outside.] I stand by the entrance, staring off at the night sky. With everything that is going on, I needed to get out to clear my head. 'Bucky is alive.' It's still surreal. Part of me wondered if all this is some elaborate dream I would soon wake up from. Sadly that isn't the case. "He's going to be there waiting for you," Sam says, moving toward me. I bow my head, "Yeah, I know." "Whoever he used to be and the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop," Sam tells me, brows creased. I shift my shoulders, thinking, "Not sure if I could do that." "He might not give you a choice," He states, "He doesn't remember you." There is that chance I'll be forced to put down Bucky myself. I only hope it won't come to that. I shake my head, then look to Sam, "He will. But if there's no other choice, then I'll do what I have to do. Gear up. It's almost time." Both of us walk back inside.**

**[Room.] As I enter my temporary room to suit up, Nat's there waiting. "Nat, what are you doing here?" I question the woman. She keeps her eyes forward, thinking, then shifts it to me. "The Winter Soldier. You know him?" I nod, "Bucky. He's my friend. I told you this all before." For a short second, Nat holds a knowing expression. At first, I thought she was reminiscing on her encounter with the Winter Soldier. But the faraway gaze suggested it more to it. I debated with myself whether to press it or not. I go with the first option. "You crossed paths with him before. Long before the mission in Iran," I say. Nat's expression softens a bit, "Before I join up with SHIELD. I was a member of the WIDOW. A program created by an organization called the RED-ROOM, a top-secret Soviet training program where they take young women and turn them into deadly assassins. The Winter Soldier was one of my instructors." I peer over to the spy, studying her, forcing myself to calm the rage building up, "Did you know who he was before? His real name? That he was my friend?" Everything comes out cold and angry. Natasha shakes her head, "No. I didn't know he had any connection to you whatsoever, or that he was a HYDRA's asset." She's telling the truth, as surprising that is. "Why are you telling me this now?" I demand. "I don't know. Maybe, I just wanted to get some weight off my shoulders. Truth be told if there's anyone who could restore Bucky's humanity it's you," Nat tells me, getting up and moving toward the door.**

**[Amory.] The team is busy gearing up for the mission. Raijin and Karai pick out an assault rifle and pistol from the weapon rack. Coulson and his team strap on their body armor. Nat is with Fury and Hill going over their part of the mission. Sam is done placing on the last piece of his Falcon suit. Danvers pulls down her mask, setting her outfit in combat mode. I clip on my helmet and shield. Agent May enters, "Wheels up in 5." Once fully ready, we move out.**

**[Triskelion, Washington DC, USA]**

**We land the quinjet far enough that it wouldn't be detected by radar. I look toward Nat, "You're up first." The spy smirks and treads off, actuating the holo-disguise. "The rest of you are with me," I say to the others. Going stealth, we enter the Triskelion and move to the satellite command center. [Inside.] The PARAGADES take the lead; they stack-up by the door. "On your world, Cap," Raijin says. "How many are inside?" I ask. Karai studies the door, using her HUD, "Seven. Two are armed." Hill sets off feedback static, sending off a sharp noise through the comm system. The door suddenly opens, and the man's eyes gape when he sees me and the others. "Excuse us," I say. Not putting up a fight, the technician steps aside. Raijin and Karai enter first. Gun aim, "Don't do that," Raijin says to one of the security guards going for his weapon. The man slowly pulls his hand away from the handle. Both Raijin and Karai strip their guns' guards in practice fashion, zip-cuff their hands behind their backs. Skye and Hill set themselves at the computer terminal.**

**Working her hacker magic, Skye patches me into the facility intercom, "Ready, Cap." Sam and Danvers secured the tech team on the other end of the room; they stare at us with a worried look. For a moment, I wondered what lie did Pierce spin to make them believe that we're the enemy. I lean over the mic, "Attention all SHIELD agents, this is Steve Rogers. You heard a lot about me in the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt my team and me down. But I think it's time for you to know the truth. SHIELD has been taken over by NEO-HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and the Insight crew are NEO-HYDRA, as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want, total control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers, NEO-HYDRA will be able to kill anyone who stands in their way unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." Sam walks up to me, "You wrote that down first, or was that all at the top of your head?" Sam and the rest of the team in the room all look at me with admiration.**

**Skye pulls up a video feed across the whole Triskelion. Via security surveillance, we watch as Rumlow barges in the command center to one of the tech crews. "Preempt the launch sequence. Send those ships up now." The young man shifts nervously in his seat. He steals a glance at Rumlow, and everyone else in the room then turns back to the computer screen, but he doesn't move. "Is there a problem?" Rumlow asks. The boy shakes, scared out of his mind, "No. Um..." Getting frustrated, Rumlow snaps. "Is there a problem?!" The boy drops his hands and takes a deep breath, "I'm not going to launch those ships. Captain's orders." Rumlow draws his pistol, aims it at the back of the young tech's head, "Move away from the station." Kid shuts his eyes but remains steadfast, "No. I won't." Kate rushes over, points her weapon on Rumlow, "Like he said Captain's orders." Suddenly every armed person has their gun aim. Rumlow shoots a side glance, "You picked the wrong side, Agent." Kate keeps a solid grip, "Depending on where you're standing. Now drop your weapon." Rumlow lowers the gun, keeping a close eye on Kate. Kate tracks the gun's fall. Moving fast, Rumlow whips out a knife, slashes Kate's arm.**

**The whole room erupts into a gunfight. SHIELD vs. NEO-HYDRA. Rumlow gets his gun back. He's about to shoot the technician, but Kate kicks the chair out from under him, saving the man. Forgetting about the tech, Rumlow overrides the sequence, launching the ships. Once done, he breaks for the exit under fire. On another video feed, a squad of HYDRA commandos viciously and remorselessly gun down a lone agent who's running toward one of the control centers, yelling to the technicians inside to shut the bay doors. Skye turns away, not wanting to see the carnage and death unfold. By the window, Raijin, Karai, Sam, and Danvers step back as we all see the helicarriers establish takeoff.**

**[Hanger-bay.] We dart toward the helicarriers. "Hey, Cap, how do we tell the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asks, running next to me. 'Simple.' "If they're shooting at you their bad-guys," I say. Both Falcon and Captain Marvel take to the air. 'Now, the real fight start.' I drop over the edge of the open bay door to the helicarrier-1's flight deck. Up ahead, a squad of HYDRA commandos storms forward. Weapon at the ready, Karai and Raijin lay down covering fire from above, clearing the path for me. Two commandos go down. I cut between the crates, parkour over another. A commando appears. Grabbing the guy, I knock him out with one hit with my shield. Taking the merc's spare grenade, toss it over to the converging squad, blowing them away. Push on. In the air, Sam and Danvers fly by dodging the anti-air guns. The fight is going to get far more bloody before the day is done. "Found those bad guys you were talking about," Sam's voice comes through the comlink. "You okay?" I ask. "Not dead yet," he says. 'Good. Neither am I.' I run. Shoulder-slam an unsuspecting sentry, shield-strike another HYDRA commando across the face, and push-kick the last guy back. Seeing the entrance, I break for the hatch.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**I leap onto a HYDRA commando and take him down with a jump-guard-sweep. While keeping the man pin, I shoot the oncoming group, taking them all down with headshots. On my right, Karai jump-knee a soldier in the chest with enough force to cave it in, killing the man instantly. Running up behind an unsuspecting soldier, I grab him in an inverted-headlock, aiming my pistol, I blast two soldiers in front of me. The guy I'm holding, I knock out by dropping myself backward, driving him head-first to the ground.**

**Through the comlink, Cap says, "Alpha lock." A code phase to confirm that he plugged in one of Karai's virus chips to the helicarrier core. 'One down. Two to go.' "Copy. Falcon, what's your status?" Hill inquires. "Had to take a little detour," Sam voices back. Via HUD, Karai, and I watch as Danvers and Sam dodge incoming missiles. CM is doing an excellent job of providing offensive support for Sam by firing blasts at the guns, destroying many of them. From out of nowhere, an enemy quinjet gives chase. Maneuvering through the air, Danvers blows a human-sized hole onto the belly of the helicarrier as Danvers takes up all the aggro, Sam jets in the opening. By Sam's HUD, we see him insert the computer chip into the core. "Bravo Lock," he says. 'One more to go.' In the sky, spot a quinjet flying toward the Triskelion. 'That must be Fury, Coulson, and May. Guess Nat have everything under control on her end.' A large door opens with a squad of SHIELD pilots walking out. "We're the only air support Captain Rogers and his team ha-." The lead pilot never finished what he was going to say due to being caught in an explosion, killing him and half of the other pilots. The Winter Soldier strides, shooting at anything with a SHIELD uniform. Within seconds the assassin killed nearly every member of the flight crew.**

**When the Winter Soldier spots us, he strolls over. Karai and I get ourselves into a fighting stance. Drawing our weapons, we open fire on the assassin. The man zig-zags side to side, dodging the oncoming shots. Leaping into the air, he delivers a kick to Karai in the chest, sending my partner flying back. He turns on me. I try to punch him, but he easily blocks it. Seizing hold of my arm, he drives me down to the ground. Karai rushes in, leaps into the air, trying to get the drop on the Winter Soldier. Without even looking, he catches Karai by the neck, then choke-slams her to the floor. Getting to my feet, I take the Winter Soldier's back, back-suplex him to the pavement. The assassin jumps back to his feet, completely unfazed. He dashes in close range, left-hook-punches me in the face, sending sliding across the floor. Karai and I charge him, attacking a combination of strikes. The assassin parries the blows, shoots a swift jab, right-hook, and punches a powerful hit to my gut, doubling me over. Grabbing hold, he side-slam me to the ground.**

**The Winter Soldier stops his attack abruptly, like a dog's chain is yanked. The Winter Soldier stalks to a nearby craft that wasn't touched in the attack. Taking off, the craft jets toward the last of the three helicarriers. 'Oh, shit.` Karai and I are about to go after him, but something hit us both. We fall to the ground hard. Switching off the stealth-camo, Drake appears along with Skeith.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Helicarriers-1.] I sprint toward the edge of the craft, HYDRA commandos on my heels. Tap my comlink, calling Falcon, "Hey, Sam, I'm going to need a ride." "Copy. Let me know when you're ready," Sam states. One of the HYDRA commandos fires a rocket. Though it missed, it did me a favor and acted as my signal. "I JUST DID!" I shout, jumping off the edge. Sam dives toward me, Danvers right behind him. The man catches me and boots to the flagship.**

**[Flagship.] Sam drops me on the flight deck. "You know you're a lot heavier than you look," Sam comments. I smile at the light joke, "I had a big breakfast." From out of nowhere, the Winter Soldier appears, pushing me over the railing. "Steve!" Sam yells, running over. But the Winter Soldier seizes one of the wings and tosses him to the side like a ragdoll. Danvers starts to fire her photon blast at the assassin. Acting fast, the Winter Soldier jump-rolls to cover. Sam tries to get back into the air. Stepping out of cover, the Winter Soldier fires a grappling-line to one of Sam's wings, and with a mighty jerk, he rips it off. Falcon falls back to the flight deck. He forces himself back to his feet. Rushing onward, the assassin push-kicks him over the edge. "No! Sam!" Danvers cries, freefalling after him. I pull myself back onto the flight deck, but the Winter Soldier is gone. If I had to guess, he's heading to defend the core. Tapping the comlink, "Sam, Sam, come in. Are you alright?" I shout, worried. "Yeah, I'm okay. Danvers got to me before I ate the pavement. I'm grounded. The suit is down. Sorry, Cap," Sam tells me, frustrated. "It's okay. Leave the rest to me." I start to move.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Hanger-bay.] Drake bolts to me, he tackles me over the edge of the open bay doors, sending us both falling to the lower-level. Karai shouts out my name as I fall. [Lower-level.] Drake and I hit the ground hard. He's the first back to his feet, pulls back the lower half of his mask, grinning at me. 'This asshole's getting a kick out this. Damn, blood knight.' I stand up, glaring, "You pack of psychos are starting to piss me off." Drake's grin widens, "We have a score to finish." Now it's my turn to smirk, "That we do. I've been itching to get another shot at you." We rush to each other, slamming our fists together, while our free hand holds the other at bay. "Neither you or your friends are going to get out of this alive." Drake moves my hand out the way and left-hooks me in the face. I parry the punch, counter with a blow to the body. Drake sees it coming, pushes back, then dashes in, hitting me with a close-line, flipping me chest-first to the ground.**

**"That all you got, Runt?" he taunts. "Fuck this shit," I say, roll onto my back, draw my gun, and shoot Drake in the chest. To my shock, Drake activates some energy shield to protect his body from the shots. "Had an upgrade since our last run-in," he says. Drake brings out his gun and fires. I roll out the way, then jump to cover. 'Okay, I didn't expect him to have a fucking energy shield!' Drake moves to flank me. I bolt, sway across to Drake, throw out a punch, but he traps my fist. "That's what I'm talking about," he says, getting a thrill from the fight. "Got you, bitch," I say. Drake holds a confused face. Opening my fist, I revealed a high-power grenade. "OH, YOU MOTHERFU-" The shell goes off, blowing both Drake and me back.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[Upper-level.] In the blink of an eye, Drake races toward Raijin and tackles him over the bay doors' edge, falling to the darkness below. "RAIJIN!" I cry out. Skeith flashes to my side and hits me with a powered-up fist to my face. I skid across the floor. "You need to be more worried about yourself than your little partner," She hisses. Swiftly Skeith clutches hold of my arm and tosses me to the wall. The woman starts throwing a series of punches and kicks. I block the last attack and swing her face-first toward the wall. Using the wall as Leverage, she flipped behind me, taking my back and wraps her arms around me, readying for a back-suplex.**

**Acting fast, I shoot three fast elbows to the woman's face. She staggers, stunned. Recovering, Skeith fires a blast to my chest. The blast nearly cuts through my armor. Skeith strolls over, "I told you wouldn't be so lucky on our next encounter." She grabs me by the collar, lifts me over her shoulder, rams me to the wall, cracking the surface. I drop to my knees. The aura of energy forming around Skeith's hand turns into a blade. Before Skeith could raise the blade to strike me down, I jump her to the ground, jam my pistol to her hand and unload half a mag, shredding the hand to bloody pieces. Skeith screams out in agony. I switch on my shock-knuckles and knock Skeith out with a powered-charge fist. Suddenly there's an explosion in the lower-level. 'Oh, no.' Getting to my feet, I hurry to the lower level, to Raijin.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Flagship.] [Core.] I walk the catwalk toward the core. Blocking the way is Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier. I stop my advance. "People are going to die, Buck. I can't let that happen," I say, trying to reason with him. Bucky stares back at me; there's no recognition or emotion on his face. I give it one last try, "Please don't make me do this." Still, Bucky didn't move. I thought about what Fury had said about the things a person had to do or sacrifice for the greater good. The choices may not be fair or favorable, but you still had to make it. If I don't get to that core, millions of people will die, so I'm going to have to make Bucky move by any means necessary. I fling the shield, and Bucky deflected it with his metal arm, just as I predicted. Catching the shield as I rush Bucky, I block three gunshots and hit Bucky Hard enough to make him stagger and drop his pistol. Bucky sprawls onto his back next to the core. He springs to his feet with a knife in hand. I'm ready, blocking knife thrust and knocking Bucky out of the way. I got into the core's small space, but I only had time to pull the lid open before Bucky is on me again.**

**I stop a punch from Bucky's metal arm with my shield, and we wrestle back out off the catwalk. We both fell to lower-level, skidding on the angled floor. When we hit the ground, I drop both my shield and the virus card. Still fighting, Bucky and I go after the device. Getting the computer-chip is my top priority. I'm almost to the virus card on the floor when my shield knocks me down, thrown by Bucky. It falls nearby. Bucky draws another gun and starts shooting. Leap to the vibranium disk and use it as protection until Bucky empties his pistol. We fight across the bottom of the glass dome. Bucky grabs the virus card. I quickly jump on Bucky, put him in a stand-up-armlock, "Drop it!" **

**Bucky fights the hold. I break the arm. 'Better to break a limb or two then killing him.' "Drop it now!" I shout. Bucky tightens his grip on the virus, still trying to fight me off. I wrap my arms around Bucky's neck in a back-headlock, choking him out. Bucky goes slack, the card flipping out of his hand. Pushing Bucky's motionless body off me, I grab the virus card and speed back to the core. "One minute left," Hill says over the comlink. I'm about to report my status when a bullet gets me in the leg.**

**I look back to see it was Bucky, back on his feet, pistol in hand. 'Oh, come on!' I push on. "30 seconds," Hill voices, a hint of panic in her tone. "Stand by," I say. I plug the virus in. A shot gets me through my back and out of my stomach. 'Armor piercing rounds. Yeah, why not.' The lower half of my suit turns crimson. I sink to the floor. "Charlie lock," I say, voice cracking in pain. Through the hacked comm-channel, I could hear the HYDRA technicians about to link-up to the satellite. 'No, it's not going to end like this. I'm not done yet.' "Okay, Cap, get out of there," Hill says. With this gutshot hindering me, I wasn't going to clear the flagship in time. I had to make the call, so I did. "Fire now," I order. Hill's voice comes back, "But, Steve, you'll..." "Do it! Do it now!" I shout. "Yes, Sir," she says, voice nearly a whisper.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Hanger-bay.] [Lower-level.] Pain throbs through my whole body as I regain consciousness. "Let me never do that again," I groan, forcing myself to stand, but only get to one knee. I scan the surroundings; Drake is nowhere in sight. "Raijin!" Karai calls out. She jumps down from the upper-level and lands next to me, eyes full of worry. Holding out her hand, she helps me to my feet. My enhanced regeneration starts to kick in, healing the injuries. The blast did a real number on me, so it'll take a longer time to recover fully. Drake appears on the upper-level, looking down on us, combat-suit damaged. Karai and I stand ready for another fight. "Why are you doing this?!" Karai asks, "Out of some twisted sense of loyalty to NEO-HYDRA." Drake coughs a laugh, "Loyalty to NEO-HYDRA? Bitch, I'm loyal to no one but myself. I could care less about NEO-HYDRA's goals; it's a fucking cliche. Like really, why would anyone want to conquer or rule? It's boring. Me? I do it for the thrill." "You're psychotic," I snarl. "Wrong! I'm a high functioning psychopath," Drake tells me. The masked merc pulls out a device from his pocket, "You may have won the battle, but the war is far from being finished. Until next time, Runt," pushes a button on the device and teleports out.**

**Our focus turns to the helicarriers up in the sky, the three ships aim their weapons on each other and open fire. It's a barrage unlike anything ever seen before. For a moment, I wondered how the devastation would've been if we didn't stop it. My line of thought is cut short by Skye calling Cap over the comlink, but there's no response on Cap's end. I tap my comlink, "Cap! Cap, do you hear me?!" Nothing but silence. "We need to get the fuck out of here!" Karai shouts, pointing at the falling helicarrier that's coming right at us. Using our enhanced speed, Karai and I sprint clear of the danger zone.**

**When we get up top, a quinjet comes flying toward us. The side door opens, revealing Fury and Coulson. We leap into the aircraft. [Quinjet.] Scanning the interior, I didn't see Cap. "Where's Cap?" I call out. Outside, the helicarriers continue to fire on each other out of the sky. One of the ships heels off into a dive and crashes into another. They both plow into the river, crushing the launch bay on the upstream side, and tearing themselves into pieces with the impact's force. The flagship is starting to come down as well.**

**[Steve Roger's POV]**

**[Flagship.] Forcing myself to my feet, I peer through the chaos of the wreckage. Spot Bucky pin under a collapsed pillar. Going against my better judgment, I rush over to him. With the bullet still in my gut, lifting the damn support beam is difficult. It's been a long time since I was in this weakened state. Putting everything into it, I peel the pillar off of Bucky. Bucky rolls free, stands, and glares at me, but doesn't attack outright. "You know me," I say. "No, I don't!" Bucy shout, throwing a punch that knocks me down. I didn't try to block the strike. Maybe I couldn't have even if I tried, the bullet in my leg and stomach has left me weak. I get back up, didn't have much left, but I wasn't going to give up. "Bucky, we're friends. Brothers. You have to remember!" I cry out to him. He knocks me back down again. The helicarrier drifts lower; it's going to crash to the ground soon. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes," I say, trying to get through to him. "SHUT UP!" Bucky yells. He hits me again.**

**I try one last time, "I'm not going to fight you," drop my shield, "You're my friend. Partner. Brother." Bucky tackles me down and starts punching me with his metal arm, "You're my mission! You're my mission!" He hammers me with strikes after strikes. Each blow is harder than the last, but I don't fight back. Eventually, Bucky stopped, there's a strange look on his face. There's a hint of humanity in his eyes. "You're my mission," he says, more to himself than anything. "Then finish it," I say, "Because I'm with you to the end of the line." Bucky's eyes go wide, "Steve…" Suddenly, the helicarrier begins to fall apart around us, and everything goes black.**

**[Days later, Hospital, Washington DC]**

**I wake up to music, the running man. Lights shine through as I open my eyes. My vision is blurred. After a few blinks, it starts to clear. I find myself in a hospital room, laying in a medical bed. The memory of what happened quickly comes back to me. 'Right. The attack. NEO-HYDRA. Bucky.' The last one thought makes me jerk up straight. I immediately regret the action with a wince. An IV line connects to my arm to a blood bag. Must've lost a lot more pints than I thought in my fight with Bucky. One my right, Sam sits in a chair, asleep. His face is riddled with cuts and bruises from the battle. On the other side of the room stands the two PARAGADES. Raijin and Karai. "On your left," I say to Sam, waking him up. Sam raises his head and shoots me a smile at the inside joke. "How are you doing?" Raijin asks, turning to me.**

**"Like I went ten rounds with a semi-truck," I tell him, "What did I miss, and how did I get here?" They run me down through the aftermath. "In order: the world knows NEO-HYDRA was directly responsible for the attacks and Project Insight, thanks to Skye and Karai dumping NEO-HYDRA's dirty secrets onto the internet," Raijin tells me. "Fury made the call to disband SHIELD. Said NEO-HYDRA corrupted it. It needs to start over again. Go back to its roots. Nominated Coulson as the new SHIELD director," Karai interjects. I sigh, "Can't say I disagree. The world needs SHIELD, but not in the state that it was. A restart is best." "And to your last question: A rescue team found you at the river, half dead. An eyewitness reported that you were pulled out by a man with a metal arm. Saved your life. The guy was long gone by the time we got there," Sam states. 'Bucky saved me?' Before I blacked out, I remember him saying my name. Despite the small chance, Bucky possibly still in there somewhere.**

**[Washington DC]**

**[Cemetery.] After getting out of the hospital from a week-long recovery, Fury requested a meet. Found the former SHIELD director standing by a gravestone, with Fury are the PARAGADES, Danvers, and Nat. Sam and I walk over to where they're standing. "The people I trust I could count with two hands, and I'm not afraid to cut off a few fingers. When you want to build something, you need a strong foundation. The principal SHIELD was founded upon was pure. Protection. One word. Sometimes to protect one man against himself. Other times, to protect the world from a hostile alien force from another universe. It's a broad job description," Fury says. "No need to tell me," I say. Fury turns to face Sam and me, "But the belief that drives us all is the same, whether it's one individual or all humankind." "That they're worth saving," Danvers jumps in. "Before it was torn apart, SHIELD was a lot of moving parts. People like Coulson and you were the heart. Now Coulson's the head of the new SHIELD. I already give him the toolbox to build it up from scratch. The world needs SHIELD and the AVENGERS more than ever." We incline our head at Fury's words in agreement. Fury starts to leave. Raijin turns to him, "Now that you're not the director of SHIELD anymore, what are you going to do now, Old Man?" Fury smirks, "I'm trading in my bird' s-eye view for two solid feet on the ground. You won't be seeing me for a stretch." "You're going ghost. Nowhere to be found," Karai states. "Nowhere? Karai, you and your partner know me better than that. I'll be everywhere," He says, lowering his sunglasses, showing off both his eyes. Fury leaves. The team forms up around me. "What now, Boss?" Raijin asks. I peer at each one of them, "We crusade on."**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

**[Drake POV]**

**[New York City]**

**[Rooftop.] I meet with Zemo along with the rest of CERBERUS. "Alexander Pierce is dead. Killed by Nick Fury. Project Insight was a complete failure," Zola says, speaking from a newly built cybernetic humanoid body. "No, Zola, this is simply the opening move," Zemo says. The CERBERUS members all peer to him, cognizance seeking in. "You plan this?" Ward says, voicing everyone's thoughts. No one could see it, but we could feel the grin hidden behind Zemo's mask. "Yes," he says simply, "A sacrificial pawn. I provided the AVENGERS an antagonist to keep their focus, while in the shadows, the real NEO-HYDRA survives. When the time is right, we will strike at them again."**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Weeks later, AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Mission-room.] The whole team is gathered together. Thor came back to Earth a few days ago, been busy helping rebuild Asgard after his battle with the Dark Elves. Even Clint made a return. Before the NEO-HYDRA uprising, Clint was off on a joint mission with the IMF in France. Proving themselves during the whole NEO-HYDRA uprising fiasco, Cap made Sam and Skye honorary members of the AVENGERS. "Still can't believe I'm standing in the same room with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes," Skye states, fangirling a little bit. I raise an eyebrow, "You worked with the AVENGERS before." The hacker holds up a finger and corrects me, "No, not with the whole team. I only worked with five of its members." 'Point.' Karai beams, finding the display funny. The hacker/SHIELD agent is on loan to us by Coulson to act as the team's mission control. Not to say Skye isn't capable on the field, but she's more valuable behind a computer. I'm sure with more training, May will let her take a role in a combat op.**

**Steve Rogers enters. The wall computer behind him switches on, displaying an image of an Eastern European country. "We received actionable intel from SHIELD. Over the past few years, there has been a military force operating within Sokovia. It was reported it's a multinational security firm hired by General Kamil Novoty to fight the insurrectionist. It turns out the security firm is NEO-HYDRA, using Sokovia as an operation base." "Kamil Novoty?" Skye asks, never hearing the name before. I cross-arms, "The acting dictator of Sokovia. The man is as corrupt as they come and power-hungry." Cap nods. "Do we know who's running things?" Tony asks. "One of NEO-HYDRA's lieutenants. Herbert Wyndham," Cap states, "Expect heavy resistance." I side-glance the Iron AVENGER. When Cap reform the team, we were a little surprised Tony practically dive back into the fold, despite not wanting to be a team member at the very start. Cap told Karai and me that he's suffering from PTSD from the Battle Of New York. Tony isn't a soldier, never was. He couldn't handle the psychological strain of war. But he is getting by better than most, so that's a small positive. "Alright, team, let's move out," Cap says.**

**[Sokovia]**

**The quinjet storms in Sokovia hot, as anti-air guns fire on us. Skillfully, Danvers dodges the oncoming shots by maneuvering the quinjet; the craft makes a hard drop on an open field. Cap leads the charge to battle into snow-covered woods on his motorcycle. Karai and I bolt to a nearby tank. The surrounding enemy troops open fire on us. We veer the shots. Karai takes seven of the troopers down with perfectly placed shots to the head. I leap onto the tank, open the hatch, and toss in a grenade. The shell explodes from the inside out. Clint, mounted on a moving jeep with Nat behind the wheel, shoots an explosive arrow in a gunner-nest. Back-to-back, Captain Marvel and Falcon blast a pack of unmanned drones. Now fully transformed into the Hulk, Banner rams himself into an armored tank, ripping it in half. Despite being a powerful asset, I'm still uneasy having the Hulk on the team. I can't trust Banner to always control his other half. Driving, Cap throws his shield, knocking out a small wave of commandos. Zipping by, he grabs a soldier by the leg and drags him a few meters, before throwing him to a squad of three goons. Thor strikes down lighting, clearing a path. Over our heads, Iron Man speeds straight toward the castle, taking pop-shots at the ground troops, only to crash into an energy barrier. "Shit!" he exclaims. "Language!" Cap reprimands, "Skye, what's the view from upstairs?" "The castle is protected by an energy shield. And did you just say language?" Skye voices. "I know, right? We got two members who are more of a potty mouth than I am, and he tells me to watch my language," Tony comments, "The injustice." I could practically hear Cap's eye roll. Iron Man circles around, "Skye, can you find me a power source." "Already did. It's in the east sector of the castle," she tells him. Tony drops a missile to the power core, shutting down the energy shield. "Move on the castle," Cap orders. We push on.**

**The feeling of dread fills the air as we pass the gate. "Is it just me or is anyone else feels this place is wrong," Clint comments. "Stay on your guard," Cap tells everyone. The team split in half; one group stayed out to deal with the remaining enemy forces, while the other half went into the base. [Inside.] Cap, Hawkeye, Karai, and I breach a room. The enemy forces, on the other side, go for their weapons. We drop them all before they could raise their guns. Karai and I scan the area as Clint moves to cuff the goons. Cap stalks to the back room, catching a scientist trying to wipe the computers. He throws the shield to the man, knocking him out cold. The Super Soldier pulls a device, "Alright, Skye, I want a copy of everything."**

**"Will do," she says. Cap moves toward the down scientist, wakes him with a firm shake, "Where's Wyndham?" The scientist stays silent. In a rare display of hyper aggression, Cap yanks the scientist by the collar of his lab coat into the air. "Where is Wyndham? I'm not going to ask again," he demands, holding the scientist up. Fearful, scientist eyes the far wall. Cap frees his grip on the scientist then knocks him out with a punch. Clint, Karai, and I follow behind the team leader. The HUD spots the secret passage. Pushing the wall, it slides open, revealing a staircase to a lower level.**

**We make our way down, weapon at the ready. The four of us tread into an open space lab. There are pods like structures line-up by the wall. On the other end of the space is an array of alien tech. Cap moves to one of the pods and peers into it; he immediately jumps in shock and disgust. The First AVENGER forces the chamber open with a body falling out of it. We all consciously strides over. To our surprise, the body is of a half-nude dark-haired brunette Sokovian woman. It's hard not to notice the surgical marking on the woman's body. Half conscious, the girl only says one word, "Pietro." A tear slides down her cheek. Cap covers the girl with a rescue blanket he got from his utility belt. I gaze inside the contraption, inside is an inhuman creature, something straight out of a sci-fi monster movie.**

**"Beautiful, aren't they," a voice says. We all quickly spin around, weapon ready, searching for the source, and found it. In an observation deck is Herbert Wyndham. "It's over Wyndham. Surrender," Cap shouts, stepping forward to face the mad man. "Ah, Captain America. We finally come face to face. Hmph. Look at you. Gaudy and common, like peasants," Wyndham taunts, The four of us glare. "And you look like every other goose-stepper my team, and I took down today," Cap shoots back. Wyndham growls, "You dare compare me to those lessers! I am a prodigy!" "No, you're nothing more than a narcissistic lunatic with delusions of grandeur," I snap. The man sneers, "Fools. I will enjoy watching you all die." Wyndham punches a switch on the control panel. Multiple pods open. Seven unnatural figures step out of the chambers, the test subjects of whatever inhuman experiment NEO-HYDRA has done. Without protest, the acolytes go on the assault. Suddenly the seven are stopped dead in their tracks by a mist of scarlet energy. We rotate to see it's the girl who fell out the pod earlier. She holds her hand stretched out, eyes glowing red, "ENOUGH! THAT IS ENOUGH!" The seven inhuman mindless creatures are violently vaporized. Everyone in the room gazes at the girl, eyes wide and amazed. The girl collapses unconscious again. Clint and Karai are fast to catch her. Wyndham sprints to the exit, but Cap's shield strikes the man in the head's back before he could escape. "Cuff the son-of-a-bitch. The sooner that animal is behind bars, the better," Cap says, catching the shield as it returns.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City, USA]**

**[Hanger-bay.] The team dismounts the quinjet to a waiting Hill and Skye. The girl we brought back from Sokovia is rushed to Dr. Cho and Simmons's lab in a medical gurney. "What's the word on Wyndham?" I ask the Agent. Hill hands me the tablet, "Wyndham got the VIP treatment. He's being transported to the RAFT as we speak." "The newest installed penal institution for the more dangerous and superpowered villains," Skye says. "Welcome to the land of the weird," Raijin comments, walking over with Karai. Hill interposes, "Got an ID on the girl. Wanda Maximoff. Age 23. Orphaned at 10 when the apartment complex was hit during a terrorist attack. She's reported to have a twin brother. Pietro Maximoff." I tense at the name drop. Hill goes on, "Both disappeared six months ago. Obviously, we now know NEO-HYDRA took them." I hand the tablet back to Hill, "Thanks," walk-off toward the lab.**

**[Lab.] "How's she doing, Doctor?" I ask, coming in. Cho just finished running Wanda through the bio-scanner. "Her vital signs are stable. But my main concern is what we found in her system," Dr. Cho says. Jemma Simmons approaches a nearby computer and pulls up an image. "What am I looking at?" I question. "Bio-nanite. Wyndham forcefully infused the nanites to Wanda's DNA, altering her genetic makeup. The process must have been excruciating. Honestly, I'm surprised she survived. And by what Skye found running through the network, this girl was only 1 of 74 test subjects. Only half survived the augmentation procedure." I gaze at the bedridden girl through the window glass, "Keep me updated of her status." "Yes, Captain," Dr. Cho and Simmons simultaneously.**

**[Living-area.] "How's our house guest?" Tony asks. I walk to where he and the others are standing, "Still recovering. But Dr. Cho and Simmons seems optimistic that she'll pull through." Clint seems happy with that news. "Now, the real question is, what are we going to do with her when she's out of recovery?" Raijin says. Everyone turns to him. He sighs, "I mean, come on. We have a 23-year-old orphan, no doubt homeless, and who is a SUPER. And going by her file, she's alone. She has no one left." Nat crosses-arms, "What are you suggesting?"**

**"Bring her in the fold," he says. "What?! She's untrained and a possible wild card," Rhodey snaps. "Well, that's the point of us training her. We teach her how to control her powers," Raijin counters. The team fell into a full-blown debate of whether or not to have Wanda in the group. Half is for the idea; the other half are against it. In the end, it's my call. "We'll let Wanda choose what she wants to do," I say firmly, point to the door of the recovery room Wanda is staying in, "This girl was robbed of her freedom once already. Forced to be experimented on. I am not going to subject her to that again. If she chooses to stay with us, we'll train her to be an AVENGER and control her powers. If not, fine. We'll still train her to control her powers, give her an education, and a new start at life."**

**[Room.] I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to take me, but it wouldn't come. My mind keeps drifting back on today's mission. It brought back some unpleasant memories during my time in the war. Suddenly a loud scream catches my ears. It comes from the room Wanda is using. Jumping out of bed, I sprit toward Wanda's room. **

**[Wanda's room.] Bursting in, Wanda is tossing and turning aggressively in her sleep. Nightmares. She snaps awake, breathing heavily, drenched in cold sweats. Her eyes fall on me. The girl is full-on fight-or-flight mode. "Who are you?! Where have you taken me?!" she demands, charging power through her hands, eyes glowing a hint of red. I hold my hands up, palms open, "Easy. I'm not your enemy. No one's going to hurt you. You're safe. I'm Steve Rogers." She blinks rapidly, "You are that man who pulled me out of the pod. You and the other three." I nod, "Yes. You needed medical attention. My team and I brought back to our HQ." Wanda powered down. Sigh a breath of relief. I fill her in on the details of what took place due to her being in and out of consciousness. After I'm done telling her what had happened, I scratch the back of his head nervously, then pull out a pendant, and set it in Wanda's hand, "It fell out of your hand when you lost consciousness. I figured it was something important to you, so I held onto it for your sake." "It's my mother's pendant. A gift to her from my father when he confessed his love to her when they were my age," the girl says in a small voice. Wanda closes her hands over the jewelry, tears streaming down her cheeks. I place a sympathetic and reassuring hand on her shoulder. After a few minutes, Wanda turns on her side and falls back to sleep without another word.**

**[Wanda Maximoff POV]**

_**[Dream.] Two soldiers held me by the arms, dragging me through the hallway toward the black door. The evil room. The room Pietro, and the others were taken to but never returned. Panicked, I begged the soldiers holding me to let me go, but my words fell on deaf ears. The soldiers forced me into the room, towing me to a man in a white lab coat. The man circles around me, studying my body. "She will do nicely. Prep her for the procedure," the man ordered. The soldier forcefully stripped me down to my bare skin, and strap me down into the human-size pod. The man stood over me, peering down, he smiles grimly, "Do not fear, child. If you survive, you will be the next step in human evolution. A loyal servant to NEO-HYDRA." He closed the pod's door. And my entire body is bombarded with torturous agony.**_

**[Room.] Opening my eyes, I catch the soldier who rescued me sleeping in a chair nearby. 'Did he stay by my side the whole night?' There is a respectable space between the two of us. I assume it's because he did not want me to freak out again like last night. Thankfully the tense situation did not escalate. The clock on the wall flashes 10:00 AM. The Captain stirs awake, "Hey." I simply wave at him shyly. "Um, I'll give you some privacy so you can get ready for the day," he states, leaving the room. "Thank you," I whisper to him. The Captain gazes back at me and shoots me a small smile then leaves. I jerk in surprise at the sudden sound of a disembodied voice. "Good morning, Ms. Maximoff. I am Jarvis, an Artificial intelligence created by Mr. Stark. I have been informed to tell you there are clean clothes within the closet. Once ready, please make your way to the living-area one floor up. The AVENGERS are expecting you," the AI tells me. Despite not wanting to, I force myself out of bed and move to the closet. Throw on sweatpants and a slim red shirt.**

**[Living-area.] The whole team eyes me as I walk in with the Captain at my side. "Wanda, this is the AVENGERS," Captain introduces. Each individual member begins to introduce themselves. Starting with the middle-aged man with a goatee. "Tony Stark. Iron Man. Billionaire, playboy, genius, and philanthropist. CEO of Stark Industries." 'Also, a bit arrogant.' Unless this is his way of lightening the mood, I am not very sure. The man's sense of humor is lost to me. "Natasha Romanov. Black Widow. Captain Rogers's second in command." The woman is an enigma I could not pinpoint. Though she does seem friendly, level-headed, strong-willed, and independent. "Thor Odinson. Prince of Asgard and the defender of the nine realms." "Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel. Kree/Human Hybrid." Danvers comes off to be an extremely stubborn and rebellious person who has something to prove. Diving into the woman's mind, I could see she wants to prove herself worthy of her father's mantle. "Bruce Banner. Um, the Hulk when angry." Bruce Banner is the epitome of a person walking on glass shells, more fearful of himself than anything else. "Clint Barton. Hawkeye." A brave man with a deadpan focus; dedicated to his duty and protecting the innocent. "Sam Wilson. Falcon." "Corvo. Raijin." Eyeing the masked vigilante/soldier, I could sense anger and control radiating from him. "Samus. Karai." "Skye. Just Skye."**

**"Steve Rogers. Captain America." The man who saved me. The way the others look to him, he is considered a great leader and friend. Courageous, righteous, and a strong sense of justice. I did not need to dive into his mind to know all this. His ocean blue eyes act as a window. An old soul trapped in a young body. I give the team a slight bow, "Um, I am Wanda Maximoff…" The Captain turns to face me and looks me straight in the eyes, "We want you to join the AVENGERS. It's your choice. We won't object if you choose not to join. But I honestly believe you'll make a real difference if you're with us. We could train you to control your powers so it won't control you." I hold up a hand to stop his speech, "If I say no. Will you throw me back in Sokovia." The venom in my tone is evidence. Everyone catches it. I do not hate my country, but I hate what it has become, and I did not want to go back, especially if there is nothing for me to go back to. "No, it's not our style. I can cook up a visa for you," Karai says. "In that case, I will join you. I want to ensure what happened to me is never done to anyone ever again, and make NEO-HYDRA pay for the evils they have done," I say to the Captain and the team.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Days later, AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Training-area.] From the sidelines, I watch Wanda spar with Raijin and Karai. Surprisingly, Wanda is holding her own against the duo, though it's obvious the two super-soldiers are holding back. Despite being powerful, the Sokovian is a glass cannon. Karai rushes in and tries to hit Wanda with a jump-punch, but Wanda stops the young super-soldier with a charge. Raijin clears his pistol from his holster, fires several stun-bolts, tagging Wanda in the back. "Ow! Damn, that stings!" she complains, rolling to her side, "Dirty trick." Skye, who is watching the match, laughs, "Trust me, they did the same thing to me on my first day of training." "Plus, there's no such thing as a fair fight," Raijin says, "And the bad guys share no compunction of being nice. They'll fight just as dirty and as hard." "Also, it keeps you on your toes," Karai adds, "Never know when someone will pull a weapon out of nowhere." "Alright, that's all for today," I call out to them.**

**Once the PARAGADES and Skye leave, it's just Wanda and me in the training-area. "How's the adjustment going?" I ask. "It still takes some getting used too. I can not remember the last time I slept soundlessly through the night. As you have already seen Sokovia is a war-torn country, I am sure you can relate to how difficult it is to sleep in a warzone," She tells me, a hint of bitterness in her tone. "Yeah, I can," I say. Wanda shakes her head, "I apologize. That was needlessly insensitive. I am sure you do not want to be reminded of your time during that horrific war." "No, it's okay," I say. I rub my hands together nervously. There's a short pause of awkward silence. Thankfully Wanda's stomach growls hungrily. Wanda's face reddens in embarrassment. I smile, internally thanking the tension breaker, "Worked up an appetite." She simply nods, too embarrassed to say anything. Together, we make our way to the kitchen.**

**[Kitchen.] Wanda sits at the island table watching as I cook our meal "What is it you are making? It smells delicious," She asks, taking in the aroma. "It's an Onigirazu, a fusion of rice ball, and I guess a sandwich." Wanda tilts her head in confusion, "I do not believe I have ever had that dish." It was a gamble; people tended to be a little hesitant about trying new foods. I hand Wanda a small sample. I'm a little nervous but waited patiently on her reaction. Her eyes go wide in pure glee. "This is amazing," she voices. After a short wait, I finally give her a full plate of the meal. "I am quite surprised. I did not expect you to be such an excellent cook," Wanda says, taking another bite of the Onigirazu.**

**I nod, "I learn the basics from my mom, then started to teach myself after waking up in the modern world. MRE could only do so much." Wanda gestures agreeingly, "Rations is what Pietro and I survived on during our time in the shelter." Her face morphs into a sadden expression at the mention of her brother. She quickly changes the topic, "So tell me about yourself. If we are going to be working together, we should know a bit about each other." "Not much to tell. I was a kid born and raised in Brooklyn by a single mother. My father, also a soldier, died before I was born. Bucky, my brother in every way but blood, and I have been best friends since we were kids," I say, displaying a faraway look, "Then the war happened. There were good times, and there were bad times. Made friends. Lost friends." Wanda peers over to me with sympathetic eyes. The conversation between both of us is relatively light. A good start.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[New York City]**

**Patrolling the city, Epyon tags an alert in midtown. A robbery in progress. [On-site.] Reaching the scene, the bank wall explodes outward. From the gaping hole walks out a man in a technological yellow and brown suit. 'Who the hell is that guy?' A police car speeds down the street. The masked robber spirals his head toward the oncoming vehicle. He draws his arms forward, firing a blast of energy, sending the police cruiser flying toward a small group of innocent civilians. From out of nowhere, a white goo-like catches the police car." 'Is that spider web?' Another masked man in a red-&-blue getup lands on top of the police vehicle and pulls out the two officers, getting them to safety. My eyes fix on the spider symbol on the man's chest. 'Spider-Man.' The masked SUPER popped up on SHIELD's radar a year and a half ago via YouTube video. At first, it was thought to be fake, but Fury being Fury had Coulson look into it, it turns out the spider-based hero is very real.**

**"If you know what's good for you, punk, you'll turn tail right now," the man in yellow growls. "Rude! You should at least introduce yourself before making threats. So you're supposed to be what? Quilt-Man...Padded Pete...Mr. Triple-Ply? Oh! I got it! The Cushion!" "It's Shocker, moron!" he yells, firing a blast of seismic energy at the webhead. Spider-Man dodges the shot. Flipping in mid-air, he shoots balls of webs at Shocker, encasing him in a cocoon of webs. "Got ya!" Spider-Man exclaims. Shocker roars in frustration and annoyance, blasting himself free with his gauntlets' powers, "THAT'S IT! YOU WANT A FIGHT?! LET'S FIGHT!" 'Oh shit.'**

**Shocker starts firing wildly at the wallcrawler. He misses every shot. Spider-Man zig-zags, web-zips toward Shocker, start hammering punches on him by his back. Shocker tries to shake him off, "Get off of me, punk!" "Ride 'em, cowboy! Wooo!" Spider-Man shouts, holding onto Shockers back. Shocker emits a vibrational tide throughout his suit, forcing Spider-Man to break his hold. Dazed, Spider-Man gets caught with a charged up fist to face; the masked hero is sent flying toward a nearby parked bus. Shocker moves to the downed arachnid hero, "Not talking shit now, huh, freak. Let's end this little show. I always wondered how much vibrational energy it takes to crack a human skull."**

**Acting fast, Spider-Man webs, Shocker's eyes. As Shocker's busy trying to get web off his helmet's visor, Spider-Man charges forward, hits Shocker with a backflip-kick, launching him into the air, shoots two lines of webs at him, yanks the man face-first to the ground, knocking Shocker out cold. Spider-Man swings away as the police approach the scene.**

**I smirk at the site, impressed, cross-arms, 'And here I thought I was going to have to jump in the fry to save the hero's ass.' That moment my comlink beeps of an incoming call. It's Skye. "Hey! I intercepted an alert over the police scanner. You okay?" she asks. "Worried about me, Skye? I'm touched." "Why wouldn't I be? We are teammates after all," she defends. My smirk widens under my mask, "The situation is resolved. New York City's friendly neighborhood superhero took care of it." I get back on patrol.**

**[Wanda Maximoff POV]**

**[1 day later, New York City]**

**[Store.] I stare at myself through the mirror, studying over the new clothes I am spotting. Stepping out the fitting booth, I show off the getup to Karai, who sits in the waiting area. "What do you think?" I ask her. "Honestly, you have a striking image of Carmen Sandiego," she tells me. I tilt my head at her remark, puzzled. "It's a 90s American cartoon show. Raijin and I watched it a lot when we were kids." A small part of me wanted to peer into her mind out of curiosity about this Carmen Sandiego character but decided against it. I did not want to violate a potential friend's personal privacy. We make our way to the cashier to purchase the clothes and other items. Karai shoots me a side look, "You know you don't have to put a limit." I take the bags, "It's not my money, and I do not want to go overboard." "It's Stark's money we're talking. And even if you did go a little overboard, I highly doubt it'll put a dent in Stark's check," Karai tells me. I rock my head, "No, it is fine. I am not much of a shopper anyway." Karai lifts her shoulders and walks off.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Living-area.] As Wanda and I get off the elevator. A raven fur wolf-dog dashes toward us. Wanda immediately jumps back, frightened. I hold a hand up, telling her it's okay. The wolf-dog stays stationary in its position, wagging his tail happily. 'Raijin most dropped him off when we were out before going on patrol.' The wolf-dog leaps his front legs up to me. I hold my arm out to keep him steady as I pet his head and neck, "Good boy." Wanda gazes at me, completely lost. I gesture to the raven fur beast, "Right. Sorry, this is Ahab." Ahab gives Wanda a low bark of acknowledgment. Suddenly another voice yells out, "Is that a dog! Pets aren't allowed in the tower."**

**We look to see it's Tony. I roll my eyes, "Don't burst a blood vessel, Stark. Besides, Ahab is a service dog. So legally speaking, he's allowed to be here." Tony raises a dubious eyebrow, "Jarvis, is what she said true?" That moment a mechanical android steps out from around the corner, making both Wanda and I jerk back in surprise. Ahab gives the robot a slight growl. "Yes, Mr. Stark, what Ms. Karai stated is indeed a fact," it says. Tony waves off, mildly uninterested, "Fine. Just make sure Cujo here doesn't piss on the furniture." He leaves, followed by the android. Wanda shakes uncomfortably. "You'll get used to the weirdness around here," I tell her.**

**[Kitchen.] I grab a sandwich from out the fridge and a nice cold can of soda. Kneeling, I break the sandwich in half, give the other piece to Ahab. He happily eats it. "Like that? Good boy," I say, petting Ahab. Wanda watches from across the room. "You a dog person, Wanda?" I ask. The girl rubs her arm, "I am not sure. I do not have much experience being around dogs." Reach out a hand, "Come here." Wanda walks over. Taking her hand, I guide it toward Ahab. "Pet him," I say. She reaches out with a swaying hand and then pulls back at the last moment, "Does he bite?" I leer at her question, "Wanda, he's an animal, they all bite. Just don't give him a reason to bite you." Wanda again reaches out a hand, holds in front of Ahab. The wolf-dog leans in, sniffs Wanda's hand. After a moment, he let her touch his fur. "You are very soft. Beautiful yet ferocious," Wanda comments to Ahab. I toss Wanda a ball, "Play fetch with him. Trust me; you'll enjoy it."**

**[Training-area.] I aim down the sight and fire downrange, hitting its mark. Other targets appear, now moving. Loading a fresh mag, shoot each target with perfect accuracy. Skye walks in. "Hey," I say to her as she enters the shooting range. The hacker looks around as she's looking for someone in particular. I smirk knowingly, "If you're looking for Raijin, he's out on patrol." She shakes her head with a smile, "I should've expected that, being that he's a vigilante/soldier and all." I giggle, "Yeah. The life we chose." Skye crosses-arms and nods in agreement.**

**I place my gun on safe then set it down on the table, "When are you going to tell my partner how you feel about him." She shifts uncomfortably but doesn't try to deny it, "Is it that obvious?" "No," I tell the woman, "I started to notice by the way you look at Raijin every time you two train together. The way you gravitate toward him. Cute." Skye buries her face in her hands to hide the blush. "Okay, I admit it; I like him," she confesses. "Then go for it. You got nothing to lose," I tell Skye bluntly.**

**[Skye POV]**

**[Hours later, Zion Inn, New York City]**

**I manage to get home just as the night starts to settle in along with the rain. "What a day," I say to myself. A 12 hours long training session with Melinda May. Worst, Cap was thrown into the mix. I swear to God, those two are terminators. Well, more like spartans. But during the whole time, Karai's words kept echoing in the back of my head. 'Go for it. You got nothing to lose.' Exhausted, I crash onto my bed and quickly dozed off.**

**After a few long minutes, a knock brings me back to the waking world. I turn my head toward the door, but the knock didn't sound like it was coming from the door. *Knock.* *Knock.* Shift my gaze to the window. Getting out of bed, I move to the and jump in surprise to see it's Raijin. "Is there something wrong with using the door like a normal person that I don't know about?" I ask rhetorically, sliding my window open. "No. I just like using windows for dramatic entrances," he jokes. "Right," I say, shaking my head. I let the masked crusader enter my apartment, then walk over to the small kitchen, "You hungry? I got some leftover Chinese and a bottle of tequila." His mask pulls down, and Raijin shoots me a smile, "Sure." We share a nice meal and drinks.**

**For a solid two hours, we just talked. It's nice. Raijin isn't like any of the other guys I dealt with in the past. He treats me with courtesy and respect. Not like the fake shit, most guys spew out just to get in a girl's pants. The more I spent time with him, the more I grew to enjoy his company. Hell, most of the training session we did together, I did it to hang out with him and Karai. Once we're done with the food, my stomach starts to flutter. All the while, I'm busy wrestling with myself to gain the courage to confess my feelings to the man in front of me.**

**"I should get going," Raijin says. Getting up from his seat, he starts to make his way toward the door. Supported by liquid courage, I do the one thing I've wanted to do for the longest time now. 'Actions are stronger than words.' I race to my feet, grab Raijin by the arm and kiss square onto his lip. To my surprise, he didn't pull away. The kiss itself starts soft and sweet; then, it becomes more intense. His lips against mine send shivers across my nerves, shivers that make my whole body tremble. The two of us pull apart for air.**

**There's a long pause of silence; thankfully, it wasn't of awkwardness. "Okay, that was intense," Raijin says. "Yeah," I answer, still blushing. "What brought that on?" he asks. I sigh. 'Well, there's no turning back now.' I rub my arm nervously, "I'm just going to come out and say it. Before I lose my nerve. I like you, Raijin, really like you. And if you don't feel the same way, I'm okay with that as long it doesn't fuck over our friendship." Raijin steps in and takes my hand in his. I lean into his touch. "I'm willing to take a crack at this and see where it goes," he tells me. Instead of saying something, I throw my arms around him, pulling him down to kiss me again. The heat of the moment takes completely over.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Living-area.] Wanda and I have the tower to ourselves; the rest of the team are out doing their own thing. With little to do, we decide to make it a movie night. Wanda is the one who picked the movie we would watch. The Lord of the Rings. The movie we saw is an adaptation of a novel, one of Wanda's favorites. It also happens to be one of the many pop culture movies I needed to watch from my list. The film was a full three hours long. Halfway near the end of the movie, Wanda places her head on my shoulder, asleep. I stay perfectly still, not wanting to wake the Sokovian. Once the movie comes to an end, Wanda stirs awake. I smile at the small drool leaking from the side of her mouth. After a few blinks of her eyes, she quickly realizes what she's laying on, or rather who. Face fully crimson, Wanda jolts up straight, a little panicked, "I am very sorry, captain!" The young woman straightens herself up. "No, it's fine. No harm, no foul," I reassure the brunette. 'The display was cute, though.' After a short exchange, Wanda retires to her room, not before wishing me a good night.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[2 weeks later, AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**Using Stark's latest tech, I ran a search for any sightings of Bucky. Three hours in and got nothing. 'Damn it, Buck, where are you?' I stare out the window, lost in thought, dealing with a dilemma. Which Bucky am I going after? My brother or the Winter Soldier. Will I be able to bring him in to save him, or will I be forced to put him down? `God, I pray for the former over the latter.' Snapping myself out of my chain of thought, I decided to go for a quick break. Walking the hallway, I stop at Wanda's open door. Inside the room, Wanda stands by a window, peering out to the city. She has a faraway expression. I do a quick knock on the door as I stroll inside the room. "Wanda," I call out to her. Wanda blinks, snapping out of her daze then turns to me, "C-Captain. Sorry, I was lost in my own head for a moment." "Yeah, you okay?" I question, "You look...down." She glances downward, then back out the window, "I was thinking about Pietro. When I was a child, days like this, the whole family would spend the day in the park. Those times were so peaceful. Seems like a lifetime ago now…," shakes her head out of her chain of thought, "My apologies, Captain, I did not mean to bore you with my dejectedness." "No, you have nothing to be sorry for. If you want to talk or vent out, I'm all ears," I say. Wanda shoots me a genuine small bright smile, "Thank you, Captain. I-I would like that very much." "Wanda, we're not on a mission. You can call me Steve," I tell her, smirking. "Okay. Steve," she says.**

**"Captain, are you feeling alright?" Wanda asks, voice low and soft. I glance over to the Sokovian, taking her in. It's funny how every time I hear Wanda's voice, all my doubts and worries take a back seat, I just focus on her. There was only one other person who made me feel that way, but I left her behind in another life. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Why?" I say. Wanda studies my expression then sits down next to me, "I- I come to discover my powers gives me the ability to sense strong emotions. And… Um, you seemed troubled." "That's a unique quirk you got there," I say to her, rub a hand over my face, "I guess my head is too focused on the past." "You mean your brother? Bucky?" she asks, a sad look in her eyes. I shake my head, "Honestly, I just don't know if I'm chasing my brother or something else." Wanda nods understandingly. Sigh, stole a glance out the window, "When did everything get so complicated?" I ask to no one particular.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[Apartment, New York City]**

**I wake up just as the day reaches noon, push myself into a sitting position. Behind me, the sleeping frame flutters awake. The woman places a gentle kiss on my bare shoulder, "Morning." "It's noon actually," I correct. Glance over to the woman. 'God, her hazel eyes are so beautiful.' Unable to help myself, I lean in and kiss her. A small moan escaped her lips. "Please don't start me off," she says, smiling on my lips. I groan in disappointment but complied with her wishes. Getting out of bed, I stroll over to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Once I'm done, two sets of arms wrap around my waist. Soft lips touch the back on my shoulder then the side of my neck.**

**"Oh, so you can play with me, but I'm not allowed to mess with you. You are cruel woman, Neena Thurman," I say lightheartedly. Neena turns me around to face her, "Well, I've been known to be a bad girl at times," she whispers seductively into my ear. I smile. Neena steps back, "As much as I would love to play some more. I got to head out. Bills don't pay themselves." I nod, "A bounty hunter's life. Watch your six." "Will do, lover," she calls back. Neena stops by at the door, then looks back at me, "How about you tag along with me on this hunt. It'll be fun." I smile, "A day out with my girl? How could I say no."**

**[Trouble in a pair-of-dice, New York City]**

**The target's Edwin Micah, a scumbag who pimps out underage teens to the sick fucks of the world. Apparently, the man is in tight with the Russian mob. Now that I think about it. Daredevil did take down a small operation a few months ago. Going by what I heard from the radio show, Trish Talk. A man's son was kidnapped, supposedly he borrowed money from the wrong people, and by not paying, the Russian mob decided the son would pay the debt. I still shake in anger to the thought of a little boy nearly being sold off into the slave trade.**

**I station myself at the bar while Neena is scoping out the place from the upper level. After a short wait, Neena walks over to my table. "No sign of him yet," Neena says, taking a seat across from me. "Can I buy you a drink?" I ask. She smiles, "Sure. Sorry if I'm acting a little tense. I just want to get this lowlife off the streets ASAP." I nod in understanding. "Oh, I know the feeling all too well," I say, eyeing the patrons, alert. Turning to the bartender, I ordered the light drink for myself and Neena. "Thank you," Neena says, taking the bottle. I raise my glass to her with a smile, then turn my attention toward the crowd. "There were seven people in this Nightclub right now that have outstanding warrants. Three of them are suspected in murder cases," I whisper. Neena hums, "I'm aware, but for now, they're not my priority." Just then, the target walks in the bar, Accompanied by four muscle-bound bodyguards. Neena peers at me with a raised brow, questioningly. The unspoken question is, how are we going to take them? I beam. Neena immediately knew what tactic I'm going to pull.**

**Neena and I move to the VIP section. The security guard stops us. Neena quicky plays up the charm. Micah, being close by, draws his eyes to both of us. He invites us in. My skin starts to crawl at Micah's gaze, but it's quickly replaced by rage as the man catches a feel of Neena's butt. Regardless of the forced smile, I could see Neena is struggling not to stab the prick in the jugular with her hidden knife. She turns her focus toward me, giving me the signal to act. Without a second beat, I slam a back-elbow to the guy standing on my right. His nose explodes with blood. Drawing my pistol, I quick-tap the other three with stun-shots. Micah collapses in his chair, he tries to pull a hidden gun, but Neena quickly grabs his hand and breaks his wrist. The man screams out in agony. The scream catches the attention of the crowd. A few start to draw weapons. "Baby, exit please," Neena says, slapping the cuffs on. I toss a flashbang and smoke grenade to mask our escape.**

**We dropped Micah at the FBI's doorstep, not wanting to deal with prick any longer than we had to. Exiting the building, Neena hands me a slip of paper, "Your cut of bounty." I cup her hand and push it back to her, "No, it's fine. I don't need it. Spending time with you and making sure you get to go home tonight is rewarding and enough." She smirks, closes the distance between us, and place a kiss on my lips, "We should do this again. Sooner rather than later." "Definitely," I say, as we share a passionate kiss.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Training-area.] Skye flips me onto my back, then places herself on top of me, in a full mount position. "Nice. Your CQC has gotten a lot better," I tell Skye. She narrows her eyes, "You better not be letting me win. I don't want you to treat me like some delicate flower just because we're- Well, whatever we are." In response, I trap Skye's arm to my chest, then flip her onto her back, catching her by surprise, "I wouldn't insult you like that." She smiles, trying her best to stifle a laugh. "What?" I ask. Skye angles upward, kisses me on the lip, "I can feel your stiffy." My cheeks heat blush red. It's hard not to rock a stiff training with a beautiful woman wearing a tight sports bra and perfectly fit yoga pants. "We could lock the door and go a round or two," Skye states seductively. 'Oh, that is tempting. Very.' The mood is quickly killed as Skye swiftly takes hold of my arm, throws a leg across my face, and drops me to the side, putting me in an armbar submission.**

**Despite the shooting pain going up my arm, I'm impressed by how far Skye has improved her skills. Being her SO, I'm sure May is very proud of her protege. Skye beams, "I win again." She lets go of the hold. We stand. "You cheated. You use your sexiness to win," I complain mockingly. She raises a brow, "Wasn't it you who said there's no such thing as a fair fight." I smile, "Touche."**

**[Mess-hall.] Skye bites on her lunch, "Where's Karai? Hadn't seen her all day." "Probably still spending time with her girlfriend," I say. She nods then snaps her head up, eyes wide in surprise, "Wait, Karai has a girlfriend? Wow, I never would've guessed. So she's LGBT?" I gesture a wave off, "Yeah. Karai is not the type of person who broadcasts her bisexuality for everyone to gawk at. What she does in the privacy of her bedroom is no one else's business but her own." "I can't argue with that," Skye acknowledges. "Anyway, what's your plan for the day?" I ask her. She pulls out a poorly made flyer, "There's a charity event for a homeless shelter. Figure I should pitch in. Want to come along?" "Sure. Should be fun," I tell her, "So what shelter are we helping out?" She points toward the image of a building on the flyer, "Saint Luke shelter. Hell's Kitchen." she tells me. I curve a brow, "So you're an HK baby. That explains your fiery spirit." Skye rolls her eyes, waving me off.**

**[Saint Luke shelter, New York City]**

**Hell's Kitchen was once a melting pot of cultural diversity. Now, since the Battle of New York, it's a chaotic mess of wealth and poverty, crime and commerce, anarchy, and control. By hearsay and experience, Hell's Kitchen has become far more dangerous in recent times. Skye and I walk to Saint Luke's shelter. "How does it feel to back in your old stomping ground?" I ask. Skye keeps her eyes forward, "Not sure yet. It's been a long while since the last time I set foot here." We spot a priest at a donation stand. At the sound of our approach, he turns his head to us. He wears a stern expression, but his eyes are kind. The older man steals a glance at Skye, tilting his head in familiarity, "Mary Sue Poots?" Skye physically cringes at the name, "Hate that name," she whispers to me. Quickly recovering, she forces a polite smile, "Father Lantom. It's been a long while." "That it has," he states, "Last I saw you, you were still just a child before you were moved to LA with your new foster family." She crosses-arms, "Yeah. Unfortunately, it didn't work out." Father Lantom shakes his head, solemnly, "I'm sorry to hear that."**

**As the two talked, I eye the surroundings, note the nearby by teen aiding the priest. She's quiet, but her eyes are full of vigilant and slight hostility. The priest shoots her sidelong glance to behave, and she seems to get the message. The fire in her eyes dies down. After sort wait, the priest considers me, "Who's your companion? Husband?" Skye's face glows bright red, embarrassed, "W-What? Well-" She takes a moment to compose herself, "He's a friend. Corvo." I put out a hand. The priest shakes it, "It's good to meet you." "Likewise," I voice, respectful. A few kids run around us, playing tag. A kid tags a little girl, but before he could clear himself from reach, the girl tags him back. "Hey, no tag backs!" the boy complains. "Too bad," the girl yells out, sprinting away. All three of us chuckle, amused. "Anyway, what brings you to Saint Luke?" the priest questions. Skye circles her finger around, "I got wind; you guys are throwing a charity event. Thought we lend a hand. You know, to give back to the community." Again, I eye the surroundings, the condition of the place wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.**

**Father Lantom sighs, "Any aid will be greatly appreciated." "What exactly do you guys need?" I ask, cross-arms. Father Lantom clears his throat then begins to count off his fingers, "New beds for the dispossessed to sleep in, a soup kitchen to feed the hungry, and maybe a few computers to help the residents to gain new skills and employment. It isn't much, I admit. But it's a start." Skye breaks in, "It is a good start, Lantom. There are limits to what one man can do." "That is true," he nods at Skye, "Thankfully, some of the neighborhood people came out to help." Lantom regards the volunteers spread out, each assisting their fellow person. "Are you taking donations?" I inquire. The priest's eyes flash with hope, "Yes, of course. We're actually desperate for them, truth be told. Our shelter has some basic needs that desperately need to be filled. The walls of the shelter aren't insulated, and new blankets go a long way toward keeping our guests comfortable during the winter, and heaters." Drawing out my phone, I digitally transfer a few hundred thousand dollars, "Here you go. Take what you need." The older man's eyes gape, "This is… incredibly generous. Thank you, young man." I hold up my hands, "No big deal, padre. Do good with it." "Please do not downplay your charity. You have shown kindness when few others will. I will put your contribution to work stocking the shelter," he says, happy.**

**Skye and I get to work doing our part in helping the shelter. Before we know it, hours pass. As the charity event comes to a close, we lend an aiding hand in the cleanup. Epyon tags an op, and in a flash, there's an explosion. "Get the civilians inside the shelter now!" I yell out. The volunteer workers quickly guide every man, woman, and child in the shelter. I start to make my way toward the explosion. A hand seizes my arm. I gaze back to see it's Skye, a worried expression covers her face, "Stay alert, stay alive." I node reassuringly then dash then off.**

**[New York City]**

**[On-site.] On the ground level, the police already have the building completely enclosed. 'The hell is going on?' I hack the building's security feed. Via HUD, I get a clear view of what's going on inside. Multiple dead bodies lay sprawled across the ground. I zoom in on the man who's standing over the dead with a twisted smile on his face. An ID of the man quickly displays on my HUD. To my shock, it's Cletus Kasady. The infamous serial killer is known as Carnage. Over the police radio, an officer reported that Cletus has hostages. "We have the building surrounded, Kasady. Surrender!" the officer in charge demands via speakerphone. Suddenly a nearby vehicle explodes. 'The fucker has the place wired.' Through security feed, I watch as SWAT enters the building, unaware of the traps. Acting fast, I patch into their comms system. "Stop! Cletus has the whole place booby-trapped!" I shout. The SWAT team stops in their tracks. "Who is this? This is a secure channel," the SWAT commander barks. "I'm the guy who saved your sorry asses from getting killed," I tell the man, disconnecting the call. Switching my stealth-camo, I infiltrate the building.**

**[Inside the building.] Pistol at the aim, I prowl the hall. The lights are out. Cletus's smart, he knows how to use the darkness as cover. So do I. A gunshot stops me in my stride. It sounded like a police issue AR15. It came from the lower floor. "Those idiots!" I yell, taking off to the lower level as fast as I can. Once I get to the destination, I was too late to do anything. Cletus emerges from the shadow, throws an arm across one SWAT officer's face, and jams a knife into the side, puncturing his lung. He jumps on another cop, pins the rifle to the man's body, stabs the blade into his stomach in rapid succession, then slits the SWAT officer's throat. To my surprise, psycho is a skilled fighter. The third guy manages to bring his weapon leveled, but Cletus drops low, moves in close, takes the SWAT# 3's leg by stabbing the knife right above the knee. Moving fast, Cletus disarms the SWAT officer and shoots him with his own gun. Cletus giggles at his handiwork, "Never send pigs to deal with a big bad wolf. Isn't that right, hero? No point in hiding. I know you're there. A wolf can always smell another wolf." I switch off my stealth-camo. Didn't think it was possible, but the grin on Cletus Kasady's face widens. 'Fuck is that creepy.' "Where are the hostages?" I demand. "Oh, they're around," he tells me with a laugh.**

**I quickly point my gun at him. He throws up his head and pulls up his shirt, revealing a bomb belt. He's packing enough explosive to level a city block. "Is it cold in here, or is it just me?" He asks, pressing some switch on his person. Suddenly the whole hallway burst up in flames. I dash to the madman, tackling him through a door. Acting fast, he draws a knife and stabs me in the side. Even though it didn't penetrate my combat-suit, it still hurts like a sonofabitch. Cletus rolls me off of him, "Oh, now that just cheating! I want to see you bleed!" The sick fuck switches blade. Unlike the previous knife, this blade wasn't normal. It's vibranium. 'Where the fuck did he get that?!' "Gonna slice you open and paint the walls with your blood!" Cletus barks, bringing the knife downward on me. I grasp his attacking arm. He punches me with his free hand. Cletus pulls his knife hand free and goes for another strike. I sway out of reach then tag Cletus with a hook-punch to the face. He powers forward, trying to drive the knife to my chest, but I block it. Being stronger, I slam a few punches to Cletus's jaw. Cletus hits me with a hard knee to my body and then flips me onto my back. All the while, I keep control of his knife-hand. Throwing my legs up, I place Cletus in an armbar hold, breaking his arm. He screams out in pain. Kicking him off, we both quickly get our feet.**

**I sprint at Cletus, hitting him with a jump-punch. He's stunned but holds his ground. Recovering, he goes on the attack, swings his blade. 'I need to end his fight fast and get to the hostages out before this fire consumes the whole building.' Cletus charges at me, swinging the blade. I deflect the attack, grab Cletus by the back of the shirt, toss him face-first against the wall. He swings his arm back, takes hold of me, slams me toward me to the wall. Pushing off, I flip behind Cletus and back-suplexing to the ground. He lands square on his head, knocking him out cold. I waste no time and slap the cuffs on him. Lifting Cletus over my shoulder, I make a dash to the lower level. The fire is getting worse. Once I get to ground-level, my enhanced hearing catches what sounded like slamming. Move toward the source and find a locked door. Behind the door, I could hear people screaming and calling out for help. "BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" I yell. With a hard solid kick, I burst the door wide open. One the other side are the hostages; each eye me with terror. "It's okay; I'm here to help. Stay on my six, and I'll get you out of here," I stay to them.**

**The liberated hostages and I storm out the building. I toss Cletus Kasady onto the ground, quickly yanked off the bomb-belt, and flashed freeze, rendering the device completely useless. Turning back, a squad of SWAT moves toward the down Cletus Kasady, keeping their guns trained on him. With their attention focused on Kasady, I slip away unnoticed. Taping my comlink, I call Skye to let her know I'm still alive and heading back.**

**[Saint Luke shelter, New York City]**

**Once Skye catches sight of me, she rushes over, throwing her arms around me, "Thank goodness you're okay." "Yeah. It was a close call," I say to her, tightening my hold, taking all of Skye in, "Let get out of here." She nods agreeingly.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Living-area.] Sam and I are going head to head in a video game. It's a close match. We both go all out. I drop my shoulders and head in defeat as Sam takes the win. "Booyah!" he cries out, throwing his hands in the air in victory. Karai, on the couch, laughs then goes back to reading her book. I take notice of Skye, who is sitting at the island table, interfacing with her laptop. Tossing the game controller down, I move toward the female SHIELD agent and place myself right next to her, "What are you up to?" Skye keeps her eyes on the screen, "Searching." The display shows an image of Ward. Ward got outed as a HYDRA agent when this whole war started. Coulson and his team took it the hardest. The betrayal and hurt were almost unimaginable. This man inserted himself into their lives, befriended each of them, only to secretly stab them in the back and sell them out. I place a reassuring hand on Skye's shoulder, "We'll get him and make him pay for everything he has done." Skye beams a smile and places a quick kiss on my cheek. "Awww," Karai voices, replacing my spot on the seat next to Sam, game control in hand, smirking teasley at us. Sam shakes his head, amused. Cap enters, he quickly catches on to our antics, "Glad to see you guys are enjoying your R&R." We all nod at the leader of the AVENGERS in agreement.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**I walk past the R&D lab. Spotting me, Jemma Simmons hurriedly exits the lab and stops me within the hall, "Captain Rogers, just the man I want to see." "What can I do for you, ma'am?" I question, acknowledging her. The young scientist blushes a little, "Well, it's more on the line of what I can do for you." She studies over my combat-suit, "See you're wearing the STRIKE suit. Surreal seeing one of Fitz's and my design being worn by a legend." She points out the wares and tares, "I believe you're overdue for an upgrade. If you're willing to let me, I may have something that could be beneficial," the woman says. "Lead the way," I say.**

**[R&D lab.] I step out of the fitting room wearing the new uniform and holding a newly painted vibranium shield. "It's an advanced combat-suit designed with flexible plates overlaying an MR-fluid armor layer. The tri-weave consists of an outer and inner layer made of a titanium tri-weave fiber. Sandwiched in between is the MR-fluid liquid armor that hardens in response to impacts. The liquid body armor layer is flexible, giving the wearer greater mobility. Also shockproof and fireproof. It's dubbed the SL-suit within R&D," Simmons explains. "What do the SL stand for?" Wanda asks, curious, standing by the door. Simmons smirks, "Sentinel of Liberty." "Thank you, Jemma. The suit will be put to good use," I tell her. Jemma smiles brightly at my praise. I peer to Wanda, "What do you think?" She gives me an approving nod, "I like it." Jemma catches our attention, holding out a pair of clothing to Wanda, "Oh, Ms. Maximoff, being that you are now an AVENGER, Fitz and I took the liberty in creating a suit for you as well." Taking the suit, Wanda gives her thanks and move to try it on. After a short wait, the Sokovian exits, wearing a black combat-suit that fits the woman's frame well. Wanda throws on her favorite red cropped jacket, adding a personal touch. Jemma beams. That moment, Epyon tags a building fire across the city.**

**[Quinjet.] Accompanying me on this mission are Sam, Karai, Raijin, and Wanda. Despite not having any field experience Wanda has shown me in her training, she can hold her own. The VR-system's an incredible technology. Still getting used to the fact in Virtual-reality, the passage of time can be dilated to allow days, weeks, months, and even years to pass while only a few hours have passed in real-time. The reason why Wanda and Skye can perform at AVENGERS level within a short time. I glance over to Wanda, it's obvious she's nervous but remains steadfast, ready to take on any challenges. I give her an approving nod, she shoots me back a small smile in return. By the corner of my eye, I catch Karai smirking knowingly at the of us. I could already tell the woman is drawing out a master plan for Wanda and me. No doubt with Nat's help. **

**[New York City]**

**The quinjet lands on the rooftop of a nearby building. Down on street-level, the onlookers watch in dismay as the firefighter tries desperately to put out the blaze. I peer over to Wanda, "You think you can keep the flames under control long enough for us to get the civilians out?" The woman nods. Wanda strolls to the edge of the roof, her eyes and hands start to glow red. A net of psionic energy forms around the building. "Look up there! It's the AVENGERS!" someone in the crowd calls out. Moving fast, Raijin, Karai, and I leap into the building through a window. [Inside.] "Move fast, team. We don't know how long this building can hold," I say. I make way to a group of FDNY personnel having a hard time clearing through fallen debris. "Cap, we got trapped civilians on the other side. We can't get to them," one of the firefighters tells me. Working together, the firefighters, Raijin, Karai, and I dig through debris. "Help! Help us!" a man calls out. Once we get an opening, I reach in and pull the person out, followed by another and another. Sam's voice comes in via comlink, "Cap, I managed to get the people trapped on the roof to safety. How are things on your end?" "So far, so good. We're almost done clearing out the building," I say. I kick open the apartment door, both Raijin and Karai help me gather up the family inside, and guide them to the exit. It's faint, but I catch the sound of someone crying. Down the hall is a closed-door, the small gaps of the door frame is bright. 'That must be the source of the flames.' I turn to a nearby firefighter, "Did anyone checked that apartment?" pointing down the hallway. "No, point. The fire originated from that apartment. If there were people inside," he shakes his head, "They're long dead now." He couldn't hear what my enhanced hearing could. There's someone inside that apartment.**

**I trek the hall to the door. Behind me, the firefighter is calling for me to stop, but I ignore him. I wince at the heat radiating from the door, but I could definitely hear crying from behind the door at this range. "Hello, is anyone there?!" I call out. "Stay away!" a voice yells. A female voice. A teenager. I break open the door with my shield and storm in. The whole apartment is up in ablaze. "I'm here to help. Where are you?" I call out. I'm very thankful for the updated combat-suit right now. If I were still using the old one, I would've been roasted already. Move deeper into the apartment. When I get to the last room, my eyes go wide at what I see. A teenage girl sits in a fetal position, crying, her body is covered in fire. It doesn't take me long to realize she's a SUPER. Shaking, the girl looks at me, "I didn't mean to start the fire. It was an accident. I tried to stop it, but I can't turn it off. It won't turn off." She buries her face in hand, crying harder. I step a little closer to the girl, palms up, "Kid, it's going to be okay. I'm going to get you help." Tapping my comlink, I call Coulson, "Coulson, we got a situation. I got a SUPER in play. A teenage girl. Pyrokinetic user." "Copy that. I'm sending an extraction team your way," he tells me. Despite the heat, I motion to the human torch. Noting me coming, she focuses on me, her eyes filled with tears, "You can't help me. I'm a monster. A freak. They'll just lock me in a cell for the rest of life after this." The flame covering her body intensifies. "Kid, calm down I'm not going to hurt you," I try to reason with her. Tapping the comlink, I call Raijin. Not long after, Raijin dashes over to my position. He has the same reaction as me. I gaze at him, "Do you have anything that could incapacitate her without hurting her?" He draws his pistol and set it on stun then hands it to me. I move to the girl, kneel to her level. The girl scrutinizes me, worryingly, "Are you going to kill me?" I shake my head, "No! God no. Just going to put you to sleep for a little bit. I promise you'll be okay." I fire a single shot. The girl goes limp; the flame forming around her body ceases.**

**Exiting the building, the onlookers and the FDNY start cheering. I hand the girl EMS and begin to check her over. By their faces, they're surprised the girl didn't have a scratch or mark on her. Whispers and allegations start to spread within the crowd of people. Some even look like they're planning on doing something idiotic. To my thanks, SHIELD hit the scene before the situation escalated.**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Mission-room.] "How's she doing?" I ask Jimma. "The girl is doing well, though slightly malnourished," Jemma tells me. "Do we have an ID on the girl?" Agent May states. Skye speaks, "Yeah, the girl's name is Angelica Jones. Age 17. A runaway from Kansas City, Missouri." "She got any family we could contact?" I ask. Skye shakes her head, "No, at least not any I could find." "So, was she the cause of the fire?" Karai asks bluntly. I nod my head, "Yes, but according to her, it was an accident. And going by what happened, the girl doesn't have control over her powers." "What will happen to her?" Wanda questions. "Coulson contacted a school that specializes in helping people with abilities. Xavier school for gifted youngsters. Hopefully, they'll be able to help her," I answer. "And here I thought we were going to add another trainee to the team," Karai says. I shake my head, "If Angelica had more control, I would've considered the option, but she's too much of a safety risk." Raijin crosses-arms, "Based on what happened, can't say you're wrong."**

**[Living-area.] I find Banner sitting alone at the table, looking at an old photo. The photo is him and a woman embracing each other lovingly, both smiling happily. He quickly stows the photo into his jacket pocket as he noticed me come in. "Everything okay?" I ask, walking over to the kitchen. "Yeah, just taking a quick break," Banner says. I grab a cup of strawberry jello from the refrigerator. Without looking at Banner, I ask, "Someone special to you?" Barrer shifts in his seat, confused, "Who?" "The woman in the photo," I tell him. He sighs, "I've been meaning to ask you, I know you have been through a lot. The war and adjusting to the modern era..." "Yeah," I say. "Well, at what point did you know to reclaim your old life?" he asks. "I didn't. Can't. I made peace with the fact that what I had is gone. Move forward, never back. I created a new life here," I tell him. "But it's not the same?" Banner states. "No, it's not, but that doesn't mean it can't be just as good," I tell him. Banner looks kind of troubled. "What's on your mind?" I quiz. He claps his hands together, rubbing them nervously, "Before my 'accident' I had someone very special in my life. We were happy, even considered the idea of settling down together. But that all changed after the accident that turned me into the Hulk. I'm not the same person I was. Anyway, Betty reached out. Well, technically, she got in contact with Pepper, and Pepper told me Betty wants to meet." I sit down next to the scientist, "I know what you mean. But give yourself some credit you came a long way. If there's anyone who deserves a second chance at happiness is Bruce Banner." "And what about the other guy?" he asks. "You came along in handling him as well," I smile to myself, "And besides, if the other guy ever gets out of hand, you got us to help rein him in." "Banner grins, "Thanks, Cap."**

**[Wanda's room.] Walking down the hall, Wanda sits alone in her room at her deck stack with books. The girl is so focused on her reading, she doesn't notice me at the door. "Catching up on some reading?" I ask. She gazes up at me, a bit in surprise. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you," I say. She shakes her head, "No, it is alright," closes her book, "Just finished up." "I came by to say good work on the rescue op today." She smiles, "It is my job. You led. I followed." I turn to take my leave. "Steve," Wanda calls, stopping me in my tracks. "Yeah," I answer. There's a small flush on Wanda's cheeks, "Thank you. I never fully expressed my gratitude for everything you and the AVENGERS did for me. You did not only saved my life, but you also saved me from a fate far worse than death. I still shake in fear of what HYDRA could have done to me if you had not intervened… So again, thank you." I shoot her a nod of appreciation for her words.**

**[Wanda Maximoff POV]**

**[Hours later]**

**[Room.] A shout wakes me from my sleep. I sit up in bed. Hearing another, I realize it is Steve. My ability triggers, and I'm bombarded with horrific sights of the captain's memories of his time in the war. Pacifically his many battles with a man in a purple mask. 'Zemo.' After a few moments, it stops. Worried, I pushed the sheet off and got out of bed. [Living-area.] Walking the hallway, I found Steve in the kitchen, drinking a water cup, his body still glistening with cold sweats. I slowly stride over to him, "Steve." The super-soldier jerks in surprise. He turns, "Wanda?! Crap… Did I wake you." Yes, but I was not going to admit it. "No, I just woke up to get a drink of water," I lie. He shoots me a look, knowing I wasn't telling the truth but did not push the matter. I move past him to get a glass of water, then sit a the island table. There's an air of awkward silence. "I saw some of it," I say. Captain tilts his head in confusion. "Your nightmares. I saw some of it. I didn't mean to. My powers just triggered sensing your powerful emotion," I clarify. The super soldier sighs heavily. "Who is Zemo?" I ask out of curiosity. "A monster," is all he says with a pained expression. It is clear to me it is not a subject matter the captain witches to dwell on. Before I could say anything else, Eypon tags a crime in progress. "I'll take it," the captain says quickly, already moving toward the exit. I watch the man go with a worried gaze. Normally it is either Raijin and Karai who deal with street-level crimes. The AVENGERS only intervene when asked by the authorities, but then again, we usually do not wait for permission to act. **

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[New York City]**

**[On-site.] on ground-level, two dark cars pull up in an alleyway, opposite of each other. A total of 20 men exit the vehicles. "Do you have it?" a man speaks. One of the men from the other group snaps his fingers, signaling someone to open the car trunk. The HUD zooms in. Inside the trunk lays a container of a strange liquid. 'The hell is that?' In the corner of my eye, I spot a tach-team moving in. They haven't noticed me, due to my stealth-camo. Studying their gear, they're definitely PMCs. The squad is sporting light gray and black combat-suit. Two of the tach squad go in, stupidly start opening fire. 'What the hell are they doing?!' In response, the dealers draw their weapons and return fire. I jump into the action to make sure the tach-team didn't get themselves killed. As I'm coming down to ground-level, my fist slams into a goon's face. I sprint toward another dealer, elbow-strike his jaw and front-headlock-drop him to the pavement. Getting to my feet, I draw my shield, drop four thugs. Two goons appear behind me. The biggest of the two tries to get the jump on me, but acting fast, I leap out of his reach. Shooting in, hip-throw the big guy to the ground, knocking all the fight out of him. The last guy I bring down with two quick punches.**

**Scanning the surroundings, the tach-team are rounding up the remaining goons who hadn't escaped. I spot the car that's housing the container. Taking a single step to the car, the tach-team quickly turned their weapon on me. I stare them down, in a fighting stance. Suddenly an aircraft comes flying in. The side door opens to a woman in a sliver combat-suit. The woman dives out the aircraft, landing in a crouch in front of me. It's at that instant; I realize who the PMCs are. The woman straightens and makes her way over, "Stand down. He is not an enemy." They hesitate for a moment but do as she ordered. The PMC unit leader turns her gaze to me, "You must be the leader of the AVENGERS. Captain America. I am Silver Sable of Sable International. Princess of Symkaria." I study her over, "I'm aware of who you are. What is a squad of heavily-armed mercs doing in New York City?" "Retrieving stolen property for my client," she tells me strongly. I glance over Sable's shoulder to the tach-team as they load the mysterious package onto an OSCORP marked vehicle. "So you're a PMC group hired by OSCORP," I question. Sable simply nods. After a few more exchanges of words, Sable and her squad start to clear out. "Until we meet again, Captain," she waves a hand, walking to join the others. 'Great another PMC.' I tap my comlink calling Coulson and reporting everything that has gone down.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20:**

**[Grant Ward POV]**

**[Days later, SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**I stand outside of the SHIELD HQ building for a solid five minutes. Drake is right next to me, "Remember the plan and don't fuck up." The merc walks away, disappearing in the crowd. [Inside.] I walk right to the lobby. To my surprise, no alert has gone off. A part of me is a little insulted, but either way, I push to the receptionist. The woman is young. Likely in her early 20s. "May I help you," she asks. "I hear you, folks, been looking for me. Grant Ward," I say with a cocky smirk. The woman's eyes gape and quickly punches an alarm under her desk. A tach-team storms in and surrounds me. I throw my hands over my head and drop to my knees, "I will only talk to Agent Skye."**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[1 week later, Warehouse, Alexandria Virginia]**

**[Warehouse.] Skye and I fast-rope down to upper-level. Skye taps her comlink, "We got ears on them. The package is in the open." May's voice comes through the other end, "Don't engage until the deal is done." "Copy that," we both say. Setting up the sniper, I hand it over to Skye, "You ready for this." "Yeah, I don't want all the training I did with you and the team be for nothing." I smile under my mask, "You'll do just fine." The surveillance devices we set up switches on, showing us what's taking place via HUD. The man throws down a file with a photo on top of the table. "That's what I'm selling. I'm sure you'd like to see some credentials." He draws out his wallet, flashing his SHIELD badge. 'Agent Browning.' Ex-SHIELD agent turned crook. A favorite pastime is selling classified intelligence or weapons to the highest bidder. "Agent Browning, for an ex-SHIELD agent, you seem awfully indifferent to who we are," Agent Hartley says. Browning shrugs his shoulders, "What you are is the highest bidder. Whether you're in for-profit or HYDRA, it doesn't concern me. Not anymore." Hartley smiles, "That's what we want to hear." "What is he selling?" Skye asks. "Intel on a 0-8-4," I tell her. Another undercover agent places a briefcase full of money on the table. Hunter shut the case close before Browning could reach for it, "The mystery I'd like to solve is, why should we be paying you so much? This looks like a box. Sorry, a photo of a box. A box you don't have." Browning eyes the two, "I worked in a SHIELD containment facility that has thousands of boxes like this. But this is the only one that has a level-10 classified file dedicated to it." **

**"You're selling us a needle in a haystack," Hartley says, annoyed. "Finding the haystack is on you. I know your reputation. I'm sure you'll be fine. What I don't appreciate is you changing the terms on me now," Browning complains. "We're asking for clarification, Browning. You're the one who changed the terms, bringing in more than the two guards we agreed upon," Hartley snaps. Browning looks at her, confused, "I only brought two." A large man charges forward from out of nowhere, takes out the two guards, and snaps Browning's neck, killing him. Hartley and Hunter pull their pistol and start to open fire on the man, but he doesn't go down. Grabbing Hunter, the man tosses him toward Hartley, takes the file, and jumps out the window. One of the down guards recovers and aims his pistol. I drop him with a single shot. Dash to the window, "The other guy is gone. If he can survive a 25-foot drop, he's likely a SUPER." "This was supposed to be an undercover op. Why were you shadowing us?" Harley asks. "Coulson called us in to be your backup," Skye tells her, "Which you needed." I stare down at the dead man, "More like he needed it. Sucks for him." Skye calls Coulson, "Sir, the mark is down. Third-party, possibly HYDRA, and we're out in the open. What do you want us to do?" Coulson's voice comes through everyone's comlinks, "Go dark."**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Living Area.] Unloading our gear, Hunter is still complaining about being shadowed. He has been at it the whole ride back. "Dude, if you're that salty about it, tell Coulson," I tell him off, getting annoyed. "Plus, we weren't sure you guys wouldn't run off with the money," Skye tells them. "Hunter, enough," Hartley says, "Browning said we were the highest bidder. Means he sent the word out wide." "And he paid for that mistake," May comments. Agent Billy Koenig walks in, "The Director wants you for debrief. He's in his office." We all turn to him. "Really? When did he get back?" Skye asks. "An hour ago," Billy tells us. "Did you inform him about the bulletproof man?" I ask. "No, but May will," he turns to the senior agent, "He wants you to debrief him." May nods, "On my way." She walks up the stairs to Coulson's office.**

**[Locker Room.] As I'm unpacking the gear, Skye walks in. She turns me around, lifts my mask just over my nose, and places a kiss on my lips, a firm yet passionate kiss. She pulls away, "I've wanted to do that all day." I smirk, "Was it worth the wait?" "Definitely," Skye smiles. That moment Coulson walks in, a folder in hand. Skye turns and smiles at her mentor, "Sir." "Raijin. Skye," Coulson greets. He hands Skye the folder, "The man you encountered, all we know is his name. Carl Creel." Skye's face goes grim, "You want me to go down there to talk to him, do you? Get info." Coulson looks at Skye apologetically, "You're the only one who can." She's a little heated but remains calm, "Is this really what it takes for you and I to get a one-on-one these days? Why now?" "Because the technology in play warrants it," Coulson says. Skye node, "On it." She storms out of the room with me right behind her.**

**[Hallway.] Walking with Billy, he's explaining the holding cell security system. "There's an inertial confinement laser barrier down there, which is cool," he points to the controls, "Now, this button turns it soundproof, this button makes it opaque." Billy hands Skye the control tablet. She sighs, "Just tell me there's isn't an off button I could accidentally hit." "You'll be safe," Billy tells her. Skye turns to the door. "I could go down there with you." She smiles and shakes her head, "But then he won't talk. It has to be just him and me." I nod, despite not liking it, "I got your six." "I know you do," Skye walks through the doors.**

**[Skye POV]**

**[Detention-cell.] I slowly make my way down the stairs to the dark bottom. The light switches on, illuminating the whole room. Standing in the solitary cell is Grant Ward. The one I never wanted to see or hear for the rest of my life. 'God, just looking at him, makes me sick.' This fuck who suppose to be our friend and teammate turned out to be nothing than a backstabbing murderer and HYDRA scum. "Hello, Skye. You're looking good," he says with a smirk. Without a word, I pull up a seat. "I told SHIELD I was willing to talk to you a week ago. To give you intel," he says, "Why now? Something bad happened?" "Like you care. Well, I didn't want to talk to you, but count yourself lucky today; I need intel. Carl Creel. What do you know?" "How have you been?" Ward answers my question with a question. I roll my eyes and start to head out, but Ward stops me. "Yes, I know about Carl Creel. A former boxer and hired muscle. Nicknamed The Crusher. Turns out any opponent has a glass jaw when you have a steel fist under your gloves. Creel can absorb the substance of anything he touches, and somehow consciously transform the molecules of his body into that substance." "How do we find him?" I ask. "You're a smart girl, Skye. Figure it out. I can't hold your hand for everything." The thought of him touching me again makes my skin crawl.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Mission-room] "Sorry, Coulson, that was all I could get out of Ward," Skye says, feeling like she let SHIELD director down. "It's alright, Skye. In his own twisted way, he told us what we needed to know," Coulson states. Skye looks at her CO in confusion. Coulson starts to explain, "Creel's a hired muscle. He sells his talent to the highest bidder." Epyon tags a priority alert via my HUD. "I know where Creel's going," I say. Everyone turns to me. "Where?" Coulson asks. "The Vault," I tell him and the team. Coulson's face turns into a small panic, "Raijin, go and hold Creel off. The rest of us will meet up with you. He can not get his hands on any of those items." With a nod, I storm out of the office.**

**[The Vault, New York City]**

**[Rooftop.] An armored car speed down the street, pull into a warehouse. The HUD picks up multiple goons, all armed. Switching on the stealth-camo, I Infiltrate the building. [Inside.] The hired guns are spread out the warehouse, likely searching for this mysterious 0-8-4. In the security room, one of the goons has a security guard at gunpoint. "Where is it?! Where are you keeping the 0-8-4?!" the thug demands. "I don't know what that is. This is my first day," the security guard tells the man. The goon jams his gun to the man's head, "Don't you fucking lie to me, pig." Acting fast, I bolt into the office, throw my arms around the man's neck, and put him in a back-chokehold. I turn to face the security guard, "Get out of here and get to safety. I'll deal with these assholes." The man nods and makes a break for the exit. Moving on, stalk to the two sentries by the armored vehicle. The guy on the life, I takedown with a stun-bolt to the head. Before the other one can react, I jump-punch him in the face, knocking him out cold. Sense someone trying to attack me from behind. Duck low, take the man's back, swing two hard blows to the body, and then finish him off with an elbow to the head's back. Hearing the commotion, the other goons rush over. I jump over a crate, hip-throw a goon to the ground, draw my pistol, drop four more. "It's one of those freak heroes!" a man yells, charging forward, "Kill him!" Grabbing hold of the closest man, I toss him over to the thugs coming at me, knocking all three down. Suddenly a dead body is thrown at me. I jump out of the way as it hit the floor. To my shock, the dead man is the security guard I saved earlier. 'No. Damn it.'**

**Creel appears in view. I aim my weapon and unload a full mag into Creel's chest. The man barely flinches. 'Well, shit.' "Is that all you got, little man?" he mocks. Powering up the shock-knuckles, I sprint forward, hitting Creel in the face, forcing him to stagger back a bit. Back on his feet, Creel moves to chain guard and yanks it off the ground. He swings it at me like a fucking wrecking ball. The blow sends me flying to a nearby parked car. "Ow," I groan. Stand. Now I notice Creel's arm transforms into the same substance the chain is made out of. He swings the chain ball again. I dodge the attack.**

**From my pack, I grab a few charges and pitch it at Creel. They attach to Creel's body, blasting him back toward the armored car. Touching the car, Creel absorbs the substance, transforming his body into reinforced steel. He grins, "Let's try that again." I charge him, hitting him with a jump-knee. Creel just takes the blow, and I fall on my ass. Grabbing me by the leg, Creel swings me around, throwing me to a pack of crates. I force myself to stand. Creel rushes forward. I drop under his attacking fist, jam a thumb to the only weak point of his body. His eyes. The man shrieks in pain. Quickly, I grasp Creel's head and electrify him with the full power of the shock-knuckles. Creel powers through the pain and takes hold of me in a tight bear hug, squeezing the life out of me, "You little fuck, I'm going to kill you slowly!" Freeing my arms, I start to punch Creel repeatedly. I manage to break free from his hold, slam his face down to my knee. Enraged, Creel grabs me by the throat and lifts me for his head, "I'm done playing around." Creel throws me through a wall. Just as I'm about to lose consciousness, I hear one of Creel's men yell out that he found the 0-8-4. 'Damn it.' The darkness takes me.**

**[Skye POV]**

**I race the street in a car toward Raijin's GPS location. Parking in front of the warehouse, I quickly jump out of the car and run into the building, a tach-team following behind me. Gun at the aim, we walk through the empty hall until we reach the warehouse's main section. "Raijin!" I call out. No answer. Laying sprawled across the ground are a few Unconscious hired goons along with one dead security guard. My eyes follow the trail of carnage until it reaches a wall with a gaping hole. I stop dead in my tracks as my gaze falls on Raijin's fallen form. "Oh, god," I say in a weak voice, kneeling next to him. Raijin wakes up, tries to force himself to stand but ends up losing his footing. I break his fall with my body, helping to support him, "I got you. I got you." "Creel. He got the 0-8-4," he says. "We'll deal with that later. We need to get you to a medic," I tell Raijin. He winces in pain, "Give me a sec." After a few seconds, Raijin's injuries start to heal.**

**[Later, SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Mission-room.] "Good to see you're okay," Coulson says. "Yeah, but I couldn't stop Creel from getting his hands on the 0-8-4 or save that security guard. It's on me," Raijin states. "No, you did everything you could. We weren't prepared, and it cost us. A mistake that won't happen again," Coulson tells him. Karai walks in. She stops in her stride when she catches Raijin's look, "What the hell happened to you?" "I want a few rounds with a freight train," he growls. "What are you doing here, Karai?" I query. She motions to Coulson, "Boss called me in. He filled me in on what's going down. Good thing too because I found something. Creel's employer is using an encrypted white noise frequency to communicate with him." "Can we track it?" Coulson asks. "Yes, but the catch is we need to wait until either Creel or the Employer to make contact to zero in on them," Karai informs us. Everyone sighs. "Well, it's better than nothing," I say.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Armory.] I sit at my locker, cleaning the sniper rifle we're going to use to take down Creel, even if it is only a last resort. May not be a murderer, but killing a guy like that wouldn't bother me one bit. Hell, Creel wouldn't even be the first, nor will it be the last. Two sets of arms wrap around my shoulders from behind. I was so focused on the task I didn't even notice Skye walked in. Both of us stay like that for a long moment. I stand to face her, wasn't sure what drove me, but I needed her more than I ever needed anyone. We lock eyes. She takes my hand and guides me out of the armory toward her room without saying a word.**

**[Skye's room.] I close the gap between us. Her back brushes against the wall. Both our hearts are racing. Despite my excitement, I let Skye take the lead. We kiss passionately. My hands slide through the curvature of her waist down to her perfect shaped butt. A soft moan escapes her lips. She steps back and pulls up her shirt, exposing her black bra. I shed my shirts. Skye gazes at me, studying me, there a lustful smirk on her face. She runs her hands over my chest, then she takes me by the head and assists me to her chest, pulling the bra to the flesh underneath. I open my mouth and wrap my lips around her breast, sucking and nibbling it slightly. Skye let out a pleasurable cry. Taking me by my waistband, Skye pulls me toward the bed. We both discard the remaining of our clothes. The woman in charge drops herself back, pulling me down on top of her.**

**We both lay in bed, our bodies glistening. Skye has her head on my chest, an arm wrapped around me. "That was a nice stress release," she says. "Yeah, it was," I smirk. I feel Skye tracing a finger over a few of my scars, "I thought the BIO-ENHANCER didn't leave scars." "It doesn't. It doesn't heal pre-existing scars." She looks up at me, surprised by the new information, "Oh." There's a quick moment of silence between the both of us. Skye mounts herself on top of me and places a soft kiss onto my lips. "I'm starting to think you're too good for me," she says, changing the topic. I smirk, "Funny, and here I thought you're the one who's too good for me." There's a knock at the door. Karai's voice cuts through from the other side, "Sorry to break up your fun time, but Creel made contact. Wheels up in five." Skye groans but still smiles, "Come on. Duty calls." She and I leave the bed and get ourselves ready.**

**[Battery Park, New York City]**

**[Care.] From inside a parked van in an alleyway, Skye and I watch Creel sits at a bench in a public park, facing away from a dark-haired man The HUD zooms in on the two men. By their lip movement, they're subtly talking to each other. "I got the package you hired me to get." "Well done, Mr. Creel, you will be well rewarded for your services. Now, slowly hand the packages over to me," the other man says. "Do we have an ID on the other guy?" Skye asks, aiming down a sniper rifle scope. "No ID as of yet," Triplett answers via comlink. Suddenly a gun is fired. Just as the bullet is about to strike Creel, he morphs his body into solid steel. The bullet bounces off his now steel skin. Panic and chaos quickly erupt. "Shot fired! Shot fired!" I shout, jumping out of the car. [Park.] Scanning the area, the 0-8-4 is nowhere to be found. Hell, even the dark-haired man, now running, is empty-handed. Creel and I locked eyes on each other. "You?" he growls. "Yeah, me. Let's try this again," I say, using Creel's words from our first fight." He charges forward, tackling me through a nearby hotel window. Using Creel's momentum against him, I manage to flip him onto his back with a roll-back-throw. Getting back onto his feet, Creel rain punishes. I block the strike and go on the offensive, I shoot blows at Creel's body. Enraged, he tags me with back-hand-fist across the face, dropping me. The brute moves on me. Creel shouts out in pain as he's shot from behind. Looking past Creel, I saw Skye unload three more armor-piercing rounds onto Creel's back. From out of nowhere, Karai jams a device onto the man. Creel's body starts to transform into different substances violently. Glass, metal, rock, diamond. Back in his human form, Creel drops unconscious to the ground. "Fitz and Simmons really know how to come through in a pinch," Karai comments. I nod in agreement. Skye throws herself on me, "Are you okay?" I smile at her, "Yeah, thanks to you and Karai."**

**[Zemo POV]**

**[HYDRA HQ, New York City]**

**Skeith kneels before me, holding out the obelisk that was stored in the 0-8-4 case. "What is it?" Zola question. I grin madly, "A component to my master design."**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Weeks later, New York City]**

**On patrol, Epyon tags an op. Karai and I take the call. [On-site.] A police armory is being raided by a gang of armed mercs. The HUD zooms in on their leader. A flash of rage runs through the two of us when we see who the man is. Brock Rumlow AKA Crossbones, HYDRA's elite operative. Jumping on the chance for payback for the friends he killed, Karai shoots the merc next to Rumlow with a stun-bolt. Crossbones snaps his head toward our direction, "Kill them!" The mercs open fire on us. We jump to cover and shoot back, dropping a few of the mercs. Taking a shield formation, the mercenaries came rushing at us. Crossbones blindsided me, attacking with a jump-punch, sending me flying to a nearby container, he goes for another strike. I block the attack, grab Crossbones's arm, knee his gut, elbow his face, and hip-throw him to the ground. He jumps to his feet, takes me down with a double-leg-tackle. Crossbones strikes me with a barrage of punches. "Not bad, punk, but not good enough," he hisses. I catch Romlow in an armbar.**

**Using the enhanced strength of the exo-suit, Crossbones effortlessly lifted me off the ground and slammed me back-first to the container wall. After dealing with the mercenaries, Karai comes rushing in, tackling Crossbones to the ground. Recovering to one knee, Crossbones strikes Karai with a right hook punch, tagging her on the jaw, then escapes. "You okay?" I ask Karai, recovering to a stand. "Yeah… Getting punched in the face wasn't the best highlight of my day," Karai says, wiping the blood off her lower lip. I stalk toward a marc, seize the man by the collar of his shirt, lean in close to his face, "Easy or hard, your call. Start talking. I want to know everything." The man's eyes gape wide in fear.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**[Training-area.] Wanda slams a fist toward the punching-bag. "Good, now augment the strikes with your hex powers," I tell Wanda. The girl nods and performs the action. She channels the scarlet aura through her fist as she throws a punch to the punching-bag, sending it flying. I smirk, impressed, "Nicely done, Scarlet." Wanda tips her head, "Scarlet?" I scratched the back of my head nervously, "Sorry, it just flipped out. Guess the PARAGADES are rubbing off on me." She smiles, "No, it is alright. I like it," snaps her fingers, "Scarlet Witch. That should be my code-name." "Yeah, it fits you," I say, gesture agreeingly. Abruptly, the comlink rings of an incoming call from the PARAGADES. Raijin fills me in on the details of his encounter with Rumlow. "Long story short, we know where he's going next. Lagos," Raijin divulges. "Good work. Get back to HQ," I say, ending the call. I turn to Wanda, "We got a lead on Crossbones. Gear up."**

**[Lagos, Nigeria]**

**[Apartment complex.] I watch as the rest of the team place themselves in their position. Sam is on a rooftop on the Northside. Karai is watching from the East with a sniper rifle. Raijin's on the West. Both Nat and Wanda are on the ground, watching the research lab from across the street. "What do you see?" I ask Wanda via comlink. "Two patrolmen at the front gate. One police officer on the far West," Wanda says. "Getting better at this," Nat comments to her. "Keep your eyes open. Crossbones isn't afraid to make a mess to complete his objective," I say, "We take him down today." "Got a truck coming down the street," Raijin says. "Sam, check it," I say. "Copy," Sam voices over the comlink. From where I stand, Sam sends out his Red-Wing drone. It flies over the truck than under it. "Cap, the truck is carrying max weight. It's a battering ram," Sam calls out. "Move in," I shout into the comlink.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**The first truck ram right through the main gate. Two yellow trucks followed, storming in. The rear door slid open, revealing two squads of mercenaries. Leading them was Crossbones. Ten mercenaries stood guard out front while Crossbones enters the building with his strike force. Three of the mercs fires gas grenades into the building. Flying in, Sam drops Cap onto a mercenary. Mercenary-2 came around the parked truck, weapon at the aim. Cap kicks the side front of the truck, smacking the merc to the wall behind him. 'My turn.' Grappling down, I rush to a group of three marcs. Behind the first merc, I kick out his right leg, use him as a shield, draw my pistol, fire on the other two masked merks, and then snap the last guy's neck. "Three down," I say. "Two down," Sam says over the comlink. Wanda lands down next to me. She uses her powers to stop a merc in his track from shooting his weapons. Lifting the merc into the air. Sam came flying low, clotheslining the guy. "That's six," Sam says. Looking at the other end of the gate, I saw Nat finishing taking down her group of mercs. Suddenly one merc came up from behind her, rifle aimed at her head. A shot was heard. The merc's head jerk to the side, falling dead to the floor. "Thanks. I owe you one," Nat says to Karai, who was on a building rooftop across from us.**

**Cap steps up, "Raijin, you're with me. Wanda, get the gas out of the building. Karai, give us cover." Using her powers, Wanda catapults both Steve and me into the building. Cap enters first. A merc turns, only for Cap to strike him with his shield. Seeing another merc, Cap charges at him and punches him in the gut, pulls off the gas mask, then kicks him back, sending him flying into the wall. Two mercs came into the room. Turning, I grab the merc's gun, snatch it away, punch him in the face with a right hook, kick him the balls, and then slam his head to the wall, knocking him out. Cap throws the shield to the merc behind me. Cap and I made our way deeper into the building. Walking the halls, we noted the bodies of the dead scientists.**

**"Damn it. We were too late," Cap whispers. "Crossbones is going to get what's coming to him, Cap," I say. Seeing a quarantine chamber with its door burst open, we realize what Crossbones got his hands on. Cap taps his comlink, "Crossbones has a Biological weapon." "I got eyes on him. He's outside," Karai yells. When we get out to the balcony, I saw Crossbones aiming a 50 cal. Reacting quickly, I grab Cap by the shoulder and pull him back as Crossbones fires. On our feet, we start to make a run for it. The last shot sent us flying out the window to the ground below. "Raijin, you alright?" Cap asks, kneeling next to me. "Yeah, I'm good," I say, getting back to my feet. Together, Cap and I chase down Crossbones and his gang.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Town market.] The mercs dish the truck and split up within the busy crowd. Raijin and I race after them. Reaching the getaway car on the ground lays the mercs' gear. "They dished their gear," I say, scanning the crowd but couldn't spot the mercs, "It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload." "I have eyes on them. Two are heading south, and the other two are rabbiting east," Sam says. I motion for Raijin to seek out the mercs. He moves out. Once I'm alone, a voice calls out, "There you are!" A magnetized grenade attaches to my shield. Acting fast, I throw into the air. High over the square, grenade harmlessly explodes, blasting my shield back to the ground. "I've been waiting for this!" Rumlow growls, charging at me. The fight is on. Romlow forces me to turn and fight. As we exchange blows, I note Rumlow is different from before. The man was sporting some pneumatic gauntlets to enhance the power of his strikes. "Come on!" he taunts, knocking me flat and pounding me with punches, leaving me bruised and staggered. He stumps the ground as I roll away. Crossbones hits me again, forcing me up against the wall. "This is for dropping a building on my face," he sneers. A blade pops out from one of the gauntlets. He punches the blade at my head. I block the strike, back-elbow his face, and yank the gauntlet off his arm, then send Crossbones flying with a spinning-back-kick. The man crashes through a nearby table.**

**Rumlow gets to his knees, peeling off his mask. I stalk over to him, grab the man by the vest. He glares up at me, defiant and full of hate. "Who you're working for?" I demand. Rumlow grins, ignoring my question, "He remembered you. Your pal Bucky. Cried like a bitch before we put him in the grinder." I froze, eyes wide, guilt filling my entire being, lost in the moment. "But don't worry, you'll be joining him in oblivion," the merc voices. Suddenly, Crossbones raises his hand, revealing a deadman switch. "CAPTAIN, WATCH OUT!" Wanda yells, appearing from within the crowd. Scarlet Witch uses her psionic powers to rip Crossbones' bomb vest off the crazed merc, dispatching it skyward and away from the surrounding civilians. "Nice save," I say to the scarlet AVENGER. I turn to Romlow and knock him out with a solid right-hook-punch.**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City, USA]**

**[Living-area.] When we returned to AVENGER HQ, the team began to celebrate a successful mission. Despite the victory, I couldn't fully enjoy it; my mind repeatedly kept playing the mission's event. I was angry at myself because I froze. Crossbones said Bucky, and suddenly I'm a scared kid. If Wanda hadn't been there to stop that bomb blast, many innocent lives would've been lost. Feeling drain for the first time in a long time, I call it an early night.**

**[Room.] I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in a sea of rumination. A knock on my door brings me out of the drift. "Steve, it is me. May I come in?" Wanda says from the other side of the door. "Yeah," I say, sitting up. Wanda enters my room. "Is everything okay?" I ask her. She moves to take a seat on the bed next to me, a respectable space between us, "I was going to ask you the same question. During the mission, I overheard what that man said to you... About Bucky. He was lying to you, Steve." I sigh, "I know. It's just that I should've clocked that bomb vest, but Rumlow said Bucky, and I froze. If it weren't for you, a lot of innocent people would've died because I wavered."**

**Wanda places a gentle, reassuring hand over mine, "That the point of a team, Captain. We are there to support and aid each other." I nod, "Yeah, it is. Thanks." Funny how this woman could lift my spirit so easily. In the time that we've known each other, I found myself enjoying her company. Hell, every time I'm within Wanda's present, I find myself feeling giddy, excited, nervous all at once. She stands and makes her way to the door but stops halfway, "That offer you gave me. I want to extend it back to you. If you ever want to talk or the company, I will be there."**

**[Drake POV]**

**[1 week later, Germany]**

**I walk through the halls of a building carrying two duffel bags over my shoulder. The target building was three blocks away from my location. Entering a room on the far west end, I place the duffel bag on the floor and open it. Inside was an array of equipment and weapons. 'A little mislead information, a few innocent deaths, point blame, push an idea, and you got a nice recipe for violence.' Bloodshed gives way to more bloodshed. Hatred breeds more hatred. Until all of the violence soaks into the land, carving rivers of blood. And no matter how many times it happens, people never learn. And I love it. Human foolishness never ceases to amaze me. From the duffle bag, I pull out the detonator. 'Let the violence begin.'**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Hours later, AVENGERS HQ, New York City, USA]**

**[Mission-room.] Cap, along with the rest of the team, watch the news footage again. A dozen NEWS outlets are covering the story. The UN building in Vienna was bombed. 70 injured 13 dead. The prime suspect's image is already plastered on the screen. James Buchanan Barnes, The Winter Soldier. Cap freezes on the perpetrator's image, his eyes narrowed, "These don't make any sense." "What do you mean?" Wanda asks. He turns toward the team, "The Winter Soldier's a highly skilled assassin who knows how to stay invisible. A ghost," points to the frozen image, "He's practically posing to the camera." Sam cuts in, "You think Bucky has been set-up?" Cap nods, "Yeah, I do. I've been looking for Bucky since the Triskelion incident and got nothing. I even used Stark's best tech to help me but came up with no result. Make a loud enough noise, get the word out, involve as many eyes and ears, it's a sure-fire way to flush a person out of hiding." Everyone in the room couldn't argue the logic behind his reasoning. "The mission's bring the Winter Soldier in. Alive," Cap orders.**

**[Bucharest, Romania]**

**We got a tip on Bucky's location from an anonymous call. The caller said he saw Bucky around an apartment complex in Bucharest. It's a long shot, but we decided to check it out. The team is in wait outside. I get in the apartment with no problem and creep around. No one's home. So this is where Bucky was hiding out. An ordinary place. Small. Who was Bucky now? The Winter Soldier? Bucky Barnes? Or something in between? Find a book on top of the refrigerator, open it. It's a journal. There was a black and white photo of me in my old uniform with the Howling Commandos on one of the pages. Both Peggy and Bucky were standing by my side. There's also news clip notes on the AVENGERS and other vigilantes.**

**"We're in position, Cap," Sam says over the comlink. "Copy," I say. Feel a presence in a room with me. Turn around to see Bucky, staring at me. For a long moment, I wasn't sure what to say. I had a lot of questions. Settle on one. "Do you know me?" I ask him. "You're Steve Rogers. Captain America. The leader of the AVENGERS. I read about you," he tells me. Despite what he said, I know he was half lying. The photo in his journal told me that much. Slowly, I put the journal down on the table, "I know you're nervous, have a lot of reason to be, but you're lying." "I wasn't in Vienna. I didn't kill those people," Bucky says. The look in his eyes told me he's telling the truth. So it was a set-up. "You need to come with me, Buck. I can help you clear your name," I say.**

**Raijin's voice comes through the comlink, "Cap, there's a squad of mercs converging on your location. 15 targets. BREACH! BREACH!" Two flash-grenades crash in. I quickly bat one away with my shield. The other grenade lands by Bucky's feet. Acting fast, he kicks the flash-grenade toward me, and I slam the shield over it. A split second later, a team of black-clad mercs storms into the apartment. More of them come in through the window via fast-rope. They open fire with assault rifles. I dash in front of Bucky, hold my shield up, blocking the oncoming fire. Shooting in close, I smash my shield to the closest merc, sending falling back to a group of two. Bucky goes after the group of mercs on his right. He slams one soldier through a wall. Bucky punches his metal arm into the wooden floor, pulls out a duffle bag hidden under the floor, and then tosses it out of the balcony onto a nearby rooftop. He bolts out of the apartment. I go after him.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Rooftop.] From my position, I see the Winter Soldier leaps onto another building rooftop. From the shadow, a man in a cat costume attacks him from behind. The Winter Soldier gets to his feet and goes on the attack. 'Who the fuck is that guy?' I could see Bucky wasn't aiming to kill during the fight, just slow him down, or immobilize the man. The man in the catsuit manages to get the upper hand, takes down Bucky. He goes for the killing blow, but Bucky holds him off. Acting fast, I grapple over to the building, rush over, tackle the man in the catsuit off of Bucky. The masked man glares at me, "Move out of the way. My quarrel is not with you, soldier." I shake my head, "No can do. This man is our prisoner. I can't let you have him." "Move. I will not ask you again," the masked man says. I get in a fighting stance, "You want him? Come and get him." Suddenly, an attack helicopter flies in and starts to open fire. I push Bucky behind cover. Rain of bullets hits the masked man, but the man's unscathed. Cap jumps onto the roof, rolls to feet, throws the shield toward the attack helicopter. The shield rips apart the tail. As the helicopter falls, scarlet psionics energy wraps around it, bringing it safely down to street level. Wanda, with Karai, is on a nearby rooftop. Bucky makes a break for it. The Cat-man hot on his tail, Cap and I are right behind him.**

**We all jump down into the tunnel path. Dashing past traffic, police hit the scene, siren blasting. The situation is getting chaotic. "STAND DOWN! STAND DOWN!" a cop yells over a loudspeaker. Up ahead, Karai lands down through an opening with Wanda and Falcon. She draws her sniper rifle and shoots two stun-shots. One hits Bucky in the center mass; the other hits the man in the catsuit. Both fall. Bucky drops unconscious, but the other guy only drops to a knee for a moment. Shaking off the stun effect, he moves on Bucky. Coming up from behind, Cap tackles the guy to the ground. Catman jumps to his feet, ready to attack. Wanda uses her psionic powers to restrain the man. JSOC and SHIELD tactical units form up around us, weapon on Bucky. "Prisoner secure," Cap says, slapping Cuffs on Bucky. He turns to Wanda, "Let him go." Wanda breaks her hold on the mysterious masked man. The man slowly takes off his mask, revealing his face. It's T'Challa, the son of King T'Chaka. The crown king of Wakanda. "Your Highness," Cap says with a slight bow.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Berlin, Germany]**

**[Car.] "So you like cats?" Sam says to T'Challa. "Sam," Cap reprimands in a firm voice. "What? The guy runs around in a catsuit; you're not curious?" Sam says. "I am. Your suit's clearly Vibranium. Odd being that Wakanda is supposed to be a third world country. Yet that suit is top of the line tech," I say. T'Challa's eyes narrow, glances sideways at me then to Cap, "The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle passed from warrior to warrior. So, I ask you as both warrior and king, how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?" Cap doesn't answer. "Okay, that's a not-so-subtle way of saying you got beef with Barnes?" I ask, "So what did he do to you?" "He murdered my father when I was a boy," T'Challa reveals. Despite his stoic expression, his eyes reveal a storm of emotions. No one says anything after that.**

**[Drake POV]**

**[Rooftop.] I tap my comlink, "Move to the next part of the operation. Be advised the AVENGERS are on site." "That's fine. We get to take out two birds with one stone," a woman says over the comlink. Skeith. "My troops and I are in position. Waiting for the go order," she says. "Copy. I'm moving in."**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[JSOC HQ, Berlin]**

**[Lobby.] Walking the main lobby, we're met by a blonde woman and Everett Ross. Cap eyes the woman in surprise, "Kate?" The woman shoots him a small smile, "It's Sharon, actually. Kate was my cover name. Sorry about that, by the way. I was only doing my job," Cap waves it off, "It's fine. I get it. Besides, it's in the past. No point in dwelling on it." She nods, thankful that Cap didn't hold against her. She gave off the impression that she wanted to say more but didn't. The shorter man on Sharon's left coughs, bringing everyone's attention toward him. "You guys really know how to put on a show," Everett says, "The Secretary of State been blowing up my phone for the past hour." "Never liked that man. Thaddeus Ross always had a vendetta against the AVENGERS since day one," Cap says. "More like he has a vendetta against SUPERS in general," I spit with an eye roll. "Him and that woman Ellen Nadeer," Wanda comments, voice bittered. Since the existence of aliens and SUPERS came to light, tension has been high. "What's going to happen to him?" Cap asks, watching Bucky being rolled out in the containment unit. "Psychological evaluation and extradition," Everett tells him, "If everything goes well, Barnes gets transferred to an American psych-center and not a supermax prison."**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Mission-room] I walk into the mission-room, Tony and Nat are there. "Hey, Cap," Tony greets. I shake his hand, "Good to see you, Tony." "Same. Nat and I were called in as soon as the word got out about the attack. Coulson thought you might need backup on this op. But it seems you and the others got everything handled here." I nod, "Yeah, but there's nothing wrong with having backup just in case. Nat strides over and hands me a tablet, "The mercs who targeted Barnes are local hired guns. Ex-German Special Forces. They were hired anonymously through the dark web. No traces." "The man has made a lot of enemies. I'm not surprised someone jumped at the chance to take him out," Tony voices, "Could be anyone who has a vendetta against Barnes." I shoot the man a glare. He holds his hands up, "I'm just voicing the public opinion. The rest of the world is not going to accept he was mind-controlled. To them, that explanation is too out there. Too Saturday morning cartoon. Even if it is true." "Tony's right, Steve," Nat says, cross-arms. I sigh, "Yeah, I know."**

**Tony exits the mission-room, leaving Nat and me alone. I park myself in a chair and pull out Bucky's Journal I grabbed from his apartment. I wanted to get an idea of who this Bucky was. My brother or the Winter Soldier? Opening the notebook, I run through a few pages. A lot of the entries were on his fragmented memories or dreams. He tried to piece together a few of them himself but wasn't successful. Looking up, I see Nat staring at the security feed of Bucky in the interrogation room. I couldn't help draw out the comparison of how she looks at Bucky is the same way I looked at Peggy. 'So there was more to their relationship.' "Do you want to talk to him?" I ask. Nat jumps like she was caught by surprise. Or rather, for a moment, she forgot where she was. Nat quickly recovers, "No. I highly doubt he'll even remember me." "Maybe, maybe not," I say, placing the journal on top of the table. Nat turns to face me with a perplexed expression; her eyes fall on the notebook. "In one of the entries, he described a woman with red hair he was partnered with." "Is that all it said?" she asks. For a split second, there's a tone of vulnerability in her voice. It's gone as quickly as it came. "Unfortunately, that's all he could get out of it. Everything fragmented," I tell her. Nat walks over and takes a seat next to me. "You know you never told me the full story of you and Bucky's history," I say. "Yeah, I did. Just not much to tell. Bucky was my trainer, and on occasions, he was my partner," Nat states. That moment Sharon signals me that the psychologist is here.**

**[Karai POV]**

**[Office.] "Sorry about your father. I hear he was a good man and a great king," I tell T'challa. The man bows his head in thanks, "In my culture. Death is not the end. It's more of a stepping off point. You reach out both hands… and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veldt... where you can run forever." "That sounds peaceful," I say, studying the man over. He glances at me while fiddling with a ring, "My father thought so too." "At the risk of picking up a fight. I'm asking you to give the AVENGERS a chance to prove Bucky's innocence," I state. "You would aid a murderer and terrorist," he spits. I glare at the man, "No. And for the record, Bucky Barnes is a POW of HYDRA's. A mind-controlled assassin. All the evil he has done was against his will." T'challa scoffs, "It does not change the fact. Mind-controlled or not, he still did it." "Yes, he did. I'm not arguing that. I'm arguing that he needs help, not a prison cell," I say, cross-arms. He thinks, "May I ask you a question?" I beckon, "Shoot." "Why do you speak for Barnes, and not Steve Rogers?" he asks. I rock my head, "Barnes is important to Cap, so he may not be 100% objective. Whether the boss wants to admit it or not, he has a blind spot for Barnes. Same goes for anyone who has a best friend in a bad spot," I answer T'challa. A knock comes at the door, Sharon pops her in, "The Psychological evaluation is about to start. Cap wants you on stand-by." I nod, "On my way."**

**[Bucky Barnes POV]**

**[Irrigation room.] I open my eyes when I hear the door unlocks. A formally dressed woman walks in. She sits down at a table while I was still strapped down in the containment unit. "Mr. Barnes, I've been sent by the UN to evaluate you. For the record, your first name is James?" she asks. I tilt my head at the sound of her voice. It's faint, but it's there. A Brooklyn accent. I wondered if it was the man in blue doing or if it was just a cosmic coincidence. "I'm not here to judge you, Mr. Barnes, only here to help you the best I can. Now, can you answer a few questions?" she asks. I bow my head in acknowledgment. "Good. Do you know where you are, Mr. Barnes?" the woman says. "My name's Bucky," I tell the woman.**

**Suddenly everything goes dark. The emergency lights kick in. "No, that name belongs to a dead man," a voice says. From out of nowhere, a man in a tactical combat-suit appears behind the woman. "Been a long time, Winter," he says. Before the woman could react to the intruder, the man draws his gun and shoots her in the head. The woman's lifeless body drops to the floor. My eyes go wide. He tosses the table aside, stands right in front of the containment unit, and begins speaking in Russian. There's a sharp agonizing pain in my head. "NO! STOP!" I yell out. The pain intensified with every word said. Everything goes black.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[Observation room.] The team's watching the psychological evaluation through the monitor within the office. Wanda stands close to Cap. The way they were acting to each other made me think something is going on between them, but it wasn't any of my business. Like the others, I was watching the interview. Unexpectedly the whole JSOC HQ goes dark. 'What the hell?' Emergency power quickly switches on. There's an explosion followed by gunfire. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" someone yells over the radio. "Everyone gear up," Cap orders. The team is split into two. Team Cap and Team Iron Man.**

**[Holding-area.] Sam, Karai, and I follow Cap to the holding area. Dead JSOC soldiers lay all across the floor; standing over them are two individuals. One is in a black-clad tactical combat-suit. The other is Bucky. No, not Bucky, the Winter Soldier. Cap comes to the same realization when his eyes fall on his friend. I lock eyes on the masked man. Each of us sizing the other up. Even though he's wearing a mask, I know he's grinning. "Drake," I growl. "You know this guy?" Sam asks. "We crossed paths," I tell Sam, voice full of venom. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO BUCKY?!" Cap shouts. "Nothing. I just brought out his true self," Drake says. In a blink of an eye, the Winter Soldier gets the drop on Sam Wilson and knocks the man out cold. He turns on Cap, charges forward, driving Cap back to the elevator with a set of combos. Using his shield, Cap manages to hold back the Winter Soldier, but using his full strength, Winter Soldier punches Cap through the elevator's doors, sending him falling into the darkness below. Karai and I sprint in, but Drake blocks our path.**

**Drake throws a powerful punch. I negate the attack, but it still sends me reeling back. We both bolt at each other. Drake attacks with a high hook-punch. I drop low, elbow strike his leg twice, dropping him to a knee. Go to upper-cut him, but he takes hold of me. Drake lifts me onto his shoulder and body-slams me to the ground. He mounts me and rains down punches. I quickly throw my arms around him, pull him down close, draw my pistol, and unload five shots to his body's side. He bellows out in agony as he rolls off of me. Some of his blood spills onto me. The wounds start to regenerate itself. 'Right. Enhanced-regeneration.' Drake laughs, "Still got your edge. Aggro and ferocity! You never bore me, Raijin. A true blood-knight like me."**

**I rush at him, jump in the air, try to hit him with a jump-elbow. He sidesteps, gets me with a hard kick to the body, goes around my back, and back-suplexes me to ground. Karai draws her pistol and fires on Drake. It stunned him, but it didn't stop him. Drake closes in, disarms Karai of her weapon, clutches her throat, slams her to the ground with a choke-slam and readies his gun. I dash forward, tackling Drake off of my partner. Drake quickly push-kicks me in the chest, sending me falling back. Rolling with the fall, I quickly recovered to my feet. Working together, Karai and I charge. We both go at the merc with a blend of punches and kicks. Drake traps Karai attacking leg and flings her at me, then tosses a flashbang, blinding us both. When we recovered, Drake and the Winter Soldier are gone. Karai and I dash over to the elevator to see Cap at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Unconscious.**

**[Main level.] By the time we get to the main level, all hell breaks loose. JSOC soldiers are in a massive firefight with a mercenary unit, and they are losing. Bullets are flying in all directions. Karai and I jump into the fray. I station myself by the wall in wait, waiting for the mercs to come to me. Once I spot the rifle barrel coming from around the corner, I jump. Grab the rifle's point, back-fist the merc's nose, then flip him to the ground, kill him with two shots to the chest with his own weapon. Zig-zagging around, I shoot six mercs. A merc tries to hit me with the butt of his rifle, but I evade the blow, punch the gun to the merc's abdomen, blast three shots, then finish him off with a headshot. Catch hold of another merc, hip-throw him to the ground, double-tap him. Tag two more mercs.**

**Drake and the Winter Soldier plow through the soldiers trying to keep them from escaping. Despite their best effort, JSOC is no match for the duo. Tony, Natasha, Sharon, and T'challa enter the scene. Tony pats his watch, turning it into an Iron Man gauntlet. He discharges a stun-blast at Bucky. The shot stuns the Winter Soldier for a brief moment but not by much. He grabs hold of Tony's hand using his metal arm and breaks it then drives him back with a kick. On the floor, Tony shrieks out in agony, holding his now broken hand. Drak dashes past the Winter Soldier to Nat and Sharon, two of SHIELD best agents. Sharon strikes first. She delivers a kick to Drake, but he catches the oncoming attack. Moving the leg out of the way, Drake shoots in close range, takes the woman by the neck, and flings her down through a nearby table with a chokeslam.**

**Drake goes after Nat next. He jab-strikes Nat in the face, hits a few body shots, takes her back, back-suplexes her to the ground. Speeding at Drake, I jump-elbow him in the face. He reels back but stays on his feet. Karai dashes in. She hits the assassin with an array of punches and kicks. Drake blocks her attacks. Grabbing Karai, Drake fireman-carry-drops her into a table. 'This suddenly turns into a Brooklyn style street fight.' Just as Drake is going to hit the finishing blow, Cap jumps in for the save, throwing his shield. The vibranium disk strikes Drake, breaking his mask.**

**The Winter Soldier and the T'challa trade blows. To my surprise, T'challa is holding his own against the super-soldier. T'challa attacks the Winter Soldier with a barrage of strikes. The mind-controlled assassin effortlessly blocks the hits and counters with a fist to T'challa's face with his metal arm. T'challa tries to force himself back to his feet, but the Winter Soldier punches his lights out. Despite his Vibranium suit, the man's still flesh and blood underneath. Drake watches on out with glee, "I do miss watching you work, Winter." Both of them dash to the nearby exit leading to the helipad.**

**[Helipad.] I bash through the door, pistol at the aim, "DRAKE!" He turns. Suddenly I'm shot from behind. I drop down to all fours. Skeith appears into view. She kicks me in the face hard. I almost lost consciousness. Drawing her pistol, Skeith trains the weapon at my head. Cap springs out, followed by Karai. He throws his shield at Skeith, knocking the assassin back. The masked female merc quickly makes her way to Drake. Drake pulls a device, "Until next time, Raijin." The two mercenaries teleport out. Now it's only the Winter Soldier left. He moves to attack, but Cap dashes at him, hitting him with his shield.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[Med-bay.] It had been nearly two hours since the attack. The med-bay's packed with wounded and injured. "How many did we lose?" Sam asks. "About 40," I say. Tony walks over, a sling supporting his broken right arm, "Well, that was a clusterfuck of epic proportion. Who the hell were those guys who kicked our collective asses." T'challa treks behind Tony, "A query I am interested in knowing the answer." I sigh, "CERBERUS. Most of the intelligence communities don't believe they exist. The ones that do call them CERBERUS. A mercenary unit credited for a dozen black ops. Assassination, terrorism, you name it, they did it. Their most lethal asset is the Winter Soldier." "So, they are the real perpetrators of the attacks?" T'challa demands. I nod. The Wakandan takes a controlled breath, "I will leave Barnes in your hands, Captain, but I may seek your aid in finding the real murderers." "And you'll have it," I tell the king. That moment Nat introjects, "Barnes is regaining consciousness."**

**[Holding-area.] Bucky starts to wake up, "Steve." "Which person am I talking to?" I ask, a little more coldly than I intended. "Your mom's name is Sara," he says. There's a small light in his eyes of a distant memory, "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." 'Good.' That hit I gave him must've freed him of the mind-control. For now, at least. "You can't read that in the museum," I say. Sam's still on the defense, "Just like that, and we're supposed to be cool?" Bucky caught Sam's tone of voice. "What happened? What did I do?" he asks, dreading the answer. "A lot," is all I have to say to get the message across. "Damn it," Bucky curses, "This is why I can't be around people. Everything HYDRA put in my head is still there," Bucky tells us, "All they had to is say the fucking code words. I can't be trusted." He looks at me straight in the eyes, "You know what you have to do. It's the only option." My eyes gape at what Bucky's suggesting. "No. I won't do that. There has to be another way," I say. "You know there isn't! I'm a monster. A murderer. I'm no different than the others you put down. Just do it." "NO! I'm not going to kill you. You're my brother!" I yell, my emotions getting the best of me." The commotion between the two of us got the attention of the others outside the room. Wanda enters, followed by the other AVENGERS. By their expression, it's clear they overheard everything. "I may have a method that could help Bucky," Wanda voices. I snap my head toward Wanda's direction, "How?" She eyes Bucky for a moment then back to me, "I dive into his mind and purge the mind-control trigger." I look at her worryingly, fearful of what might go down. In a span of a second, so many different scenarios played out in my mind, but I put my trust in Wanda. I nod at her, giving her the go-ahead. Wanda's eyes start to glow. A scarlet aura surrounds her whole body. Bucky yells out in agony, clutching at his head. After a long moment, they both collapse to the floor. I rush to Wanda and help her to her feet. "It's done," Wanda says weakly.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23:**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[2 months later, AVENGERS HQ, New York City, USA]**

**After the incident in Berlin, Bucky was placed in a psych-center instead of a supermax prison. It took some time, but the team managed to prove Bucky wasn't involved in the UN bombing in Vienna. Thanks to the HYDRA leak, we proved that Bucky was under HYDRA's twisted mind-control and was in no way in control of his actions when he carried out those assassinations. After the dust settled, Bucky was placed on probation under SHIELD and the AVENGERS. [Training-area.] "And this is the training-area," I say to Bucky, giving the man a tour of AVENGERS HQ. He nods, eyeing everything, then sighs, "Still feels like I just woke up from a terrible nightmare." I drop my head slightly, "What you did all those years... It wasn't you. Those deaths aren't on you. It's on HYDRA." Bucky holds a faraway look, then turns to me, "I know. HYDRA is going to pay for what they've done." I smile, "Together to the end of the line." Bucky nods, "Damn right, brother."**

**[Wanda Maxioff POV]**

_**[Dream.] All around me, there's chaos and destruction. Screams of pain and suffering echoes in all directions. Cities and worlds burn to ashes. Bodies of the fallen fill the ground. In the center stands a colossus. In his hand, he holds a golden iron gauntlet. Terror sweeps through me; tears start to fall. At the monster's feet laid the bodies of the Avengers, soldiers, Asgardians, and the two PARAGADES. My eyes fix on Steve's broken body. I run to him. "Steve! Steve! Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" I cry, holding him in my arms. A massive shadow towers over me. I slowly turn to face it. The mad Titan fixes his craze gaze on me, "Soon, little witch. Soon."**_

**[Room.] I jerk awake, sweating, and panting. My body shakes with indescribable fear. It took me a moment to pull myself together. 'It was a dream. It was only a terrible dream.' Yet, part of me didn't believe what I was telling myself. I turn my head toward the clock on the nightstand. It blinks 9:00 AM. 'Wow, I slept in.' Normally I, along with the rest of the AVENGERS, would be training at this time. Kicking myself out of bed, I get ready for the day.**

**[Training-area.] I trek the halls to find Steve and his friend Bucky in the training-area. A small part of me is a little disappointed I didn't catch Steve in the middle of a work-out. Though it only happened once that image of him engraved itself into my mind. I wonder if all super-soldiers have that type of body. Both males and females. The thought flips away as Steve becomes aware of me. "Hey, Buck, can you give us a moment," he tells his friend. The man nods and steps out of the room. Steve walks over, "You okay?" I guess the expression on my face still conveyed the aftereffect of the nightmare. "Yeah. Just woke up from a bad dream is all, but I am good," I tell the leader of the AVENGERS. "Want to talk about it?" he asks, concerned. I rattle my head, "No. It is nothing to be concerned about. Just a silly dream," motion to Bucky, "You are giving your friend the grand tour?" Steves bobs, "Yeah, it's going well." He steals a glance at his best friend/brother then back to me, "I got him back all thanks to you. You have my gratitude for that." A blush shines up my face at his praise.**

**I turn away, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, "We're AVENGERS. It is what we do. Help those who need aid." He nods agreeingly. I peer around, note that AVENGERS HQ is light on team members, "Where are the others." Steve folds his arms in thought, "The others are all out doing their own things. It's just me, you, Bucky, and Nat. Hey, you want to join us for breakfast?" I peer between Bucky and Steve, then shy away, "I do not want to intrude. I am sure you two have a lot to catch up on." He pockets his hands, "Wanda, you're not intruding at all." I smile brightly at the man, "In that case. Sure. I love your cooking." The Sentinel of Liberty's cheeks turns red in flush.**

**[Raijin POV] **

**[New York City]**

**Epyon tags a bank robbery in progress. Karai and I make our way toward the waypoint. [On-location.] [Rooftop.] Using the HUD, I scan the layout of the structure. The HUD tags multiple targets. All armed. Karai hacks the security feed. The feed shows six-armed masked goons in tactical gear approach a large office door. "Secure the area and get that valt open," one of the men orders. "The door is reinforced. It'll take some time to get it open," another says. Suddenly a security guard comes around the corner. The masked thugs gun-down the security guard. 'Shit.' One of the goons pulls out a saw blade from a duffle bag and places it on the door frame. Karai and I switch on our stealth-camo and go in.**

**The goons set up a perimeter. "How do we play this?" Karai asks. I thought about it for a moment. "Take them down hard," I tell my partner. I rush over to the man who had his back turned to me and took him down with a back-chokehold. Karai gets the drop on badguy#2 and hits him with a solid elbow-strike to the head's back. Adding a little psychological warfare, I let the last four goons see me stand out in the open. My stealth-camo gives off a flickering effect. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" a man yells. From behind them, Karai drags badguy#3 into the shadows. The man screams for his comrades to help him. The three mercs form up back to back. "Shoot anything that moves," the masked merc demands. Drawing my pistol, I shoot the guy on the left. The guy on the right quickly drops by a shot from Karai. In a panic, the last man standing starts to raise his gun. Using my enhanced speed, I sprint toward the man, rip the weapon out of his hand, collar-tie-sweep the merc to the ground. Karai and I cuff the unconscious gang members. We hear the sound of Police sirens echoing through the city, getting closer. "We got to go," Karai says. SHIELD or not, Karai and I don't have a mutual partnership with the police. **

**[Wanda Maximoff POV]**

**[1week later, Nexus, New York City]**

**It is not exactly my thing, but Natasha was adamant about having a night out with the boys. Plus, it's nice to get out of the tower once in a while to have a nice time. Bucky even cut his hair with Nat's help. Guess he really wants to shed any remnants of his Winter Soldier persona. Can't say I blame him. I stand at the bar as the other patrons are going about their business, waiting for my drink. For the third time, I glance over at Steve, who's sitting at the table with Bucky, nursing his club soda in his hand. Well, he did add a slash of Asgardian elixir. I caught a few of the women in the club eyeing the two super-soldiers lustfully, even whispering a few sexual comments. 'And they say only men could be pigs.' From the corner of my eye, I spot two women approach Steve and Bucky. Even though I couldn't hear what they're saying, the women's body language suggests they're flirting with Steve and Bucky. A pinch of jealousy creeps in. When I first developed these feelings for Steve some time ago, I thought it was purely sexual attraction. But I soon discovered it was more than that. The more I spent time with him, the more I wanted to really know him. The man behind the mask, behind the title of Captain America. "You're going to need to make a move if you're interested," Nat says, taking a spot next to me at the bar counter. "What?" I say, confused. She shifts her eyes to Steve then back to me. For a moment, I considered denying the allegation, but it's Natasha, she would've seen right through it.**

**The bartender finally brings my drink. Without thinking about it, I gulp down the glass like it's a shot bottle. Natasha smirks knowingly, "Going by that reaction. I hit the mark." Not trusting my own voice, I only nod. "As I stated earlier, if you're interested in Steve, you're the one who needs to make a move," she says, "And to ease your doubt, he has a crush on you too." I shoot her a shock expression, "D-Did you set this up?" Natasha takes a sip of her drink, "It was a needed intervention." She slides a shot glass toward me. "Liquid courage?" I state. The AVENGER spy bobs her head. I drink it then walk over to where Steve and Bucky is.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**"Enjoying yourself," I ask Buck. He glances around the surroundings, "The girls now leave very little to the imagination nowadays, not that I'm complaining." "Of course you wouldn't," I remark, smirking. As he was admiring the view, I steal another glance at Wanda. This time she catches me and gives me a wave. I return it. Part of me is hoping the poor lighting in this place can hide my blush. "Man, you really should just ask her out," Bucky says. I drop my shoulders, "Is really that obvious, huh." "Painfully so," Bucky comments, "What's the deal, Steve? You clearly have a thing for this girl, so what's stopping you?" "She has been through a lot. I want to give her some time before I work up the courage to ask her out," I say. Bucky crosses his arms, "Is it that, or do you feel like you're betraying Peggy?" Maybe there's some truth to that. Peggy was the only woman I ever been with, loved even. She was one very few people who saw me for me and believed in me. A very small part of me is still holding out a flame for a love that will never come. 'Move on, old man. Move on. Let her go.' "Steve, you know she would've wanted to live your life, to move on. She did. Move forward, never back," Bucky says. "Yeah, you're right," I say, feeling a little better. **

**Two ladies walk over to our table. The four of us start to talk. As the conversation continues on, the two women become uncomfortably flirtatious. Despite their attractiveness, it's obvious their personalities leave a lot to be desired. Wanda walks over, followed by Nat. Wanda passes the two girls and reaches out a hand, "Let's go dance." From the corner of my eye, Bucky and Nat are practically egging me to go. I stand, "Sure. I would like that very much." The two women shoot daggers at Wanda as they leave, but they're ignored. "Thanks," I whisper to her. She beams a smile, "You looked like you needed rescue." "My hero," I remark with a laugh. We reach the dance floor. 'Oh, she was serious about the dance.'**

**"I don't really know how to dance," I tell Wanda, rubbing the back of my neck. Wanda shrugs her shoulders, "Neither do I. Just go with the flow of the music. Least that what I always do." We take each other in our hands and start swaying, going with the flow of music. As we danced, Wanda gazes up at me, her eyes locked with mine, "I have a confession to make. It is something I wanted to say for quite a while now. During the time we spent together, I developed strong feelings for you. If you do not feel the same, that is fine, I just hope it will not break up our friendship."**

**For a long moment, I didn't know what to say. I didn't have any experience with this. Despite that, I'm ecstatic at what Wanda told me. Snapping myself out of my thoughts, I open my mouth to speak. "Wanda, I feel the same way. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn't work up the courage," I tell her. Wanda beams a bright smile, taking my hands in hers, "Well, now it is out. All there is left to do is see where this path takes us." I nod in agreement.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[The Bucker, New York City]**

**The sunlight shining through the window wakes me from my sleep. After throwing on some clothes, I start making some coffee. Skye makes her way out the room, wearing one of my spare shirts, "The scent of coffee calls for me. You got a spare mug?" I put a mug down on the table, "It is for you. There's not a morning that goes by that I don't see you with a cup of joe in your hand." Skye makes her way toward the kitchen counter, pets Ahab on the head who is standing close by waiting for his meal patiently. I kneel down, set his food in front of him. Skye drinks her coffee then gazes around, "Karai's not in?" I shake my head, "No, she spent the night with Dom." "Dom?" Sky asks, confused. "Neena. But everyone calls her Domino," I tell her. "Exotic nick-name," Skye comments. I shrug my shoulders. Skye takes in the surroundings, "So this is your place. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Is this place an underground bunker?" "Yeah. Back in the 40s, the US feared that the war would reach America, so this military bumper was created as an operation base. Never used. Hell, I think they completely forgot about it," I say. "How did you guys find it?" Skye questions. "When we were kids, Karai and I did a lot of urban exploring," I say, "We used to run with a tagger crew (graffiti/street-art artists). Learned the ins and outs of the city." **

**At the talk of the crew Karai and I used to hang with, I lost myself in memory. Skye found an old photo of the crew on a shelf. "Is this them?" she asks. I nod sadly, but she doesn't notice. "Still in contact with them?" Skye inquiries, inspecting the photo in her hand. I shake my head, "No. Hard to do that when they're not around anymore. Casualties of a gang war." She drops her gaze, "I'm sorry." I wave her off, "It's fine." There's a slight moment of awkwardness, but it quickly dies off.**

**Skye treks to the work-station or the hacker-cave as Karai likes to call it. "This is your rig?" she asks, pointing a thumb to the setup. I smirk, "It's more Karai's than mine." Skye studies it, "Honestly, this setup has to be every deckers' wet dream." I laugh at that, "Yeah, I suppose it is." Being a hacker herself, it wasn't a stretch that Skye could find some appeal to Karai's rig. Skye's eyes fall on the motorcycle on a platform, "Oh my god. What is that beauty?" My simple smirk turned into a full-on wide grin, "That's the AKIRA-X. I designed it myself." She nods and studies the motorcycle, "It has a real cyberpunk aesthetic to it." I rub my hands together, "Yeah, I based the design on Kaneda's motorcycle from the AKIRA manga." "Otaku," she teases me, tracing a hand over the bike. I shake my head, "No, I'm too much of a casual to be considered an otaku." Skye stroll and places a kiss on my lips, "You should take me riding sometimes." "Or you could ride me," I tease. Skye playfully slaps my shoulder, "Ass." We kiss.**

**[Hours later, New York City]**

**I run and jump the city rooftops, on the hunt for a man named Quesada. A rapist who escaped justice by buying off a corrupted Judge. [Rooftop.] It took some time, but I managed to track down the scumbag to a sleazy dive bar deep in Hell's Kitchen. I peer inside via window. Saw Quesada bragging to his fellow lowlifes how he got away with his crimes. That he's untouchable. 'Oh, how fucking wrong he is.' [Inside.] I prowl my way in via the skyline window and station myself on one of the ceiling pillars. Sticking to the shadow, I go entirely unnoticed by the patrons. The HUD runs a scan of the area. Count 50 people. Only 5 of them are armed. Quesada makes way to a female bartender. She looks at the man in disgust, "You got a lot of nerve coming back here after what you did." Quesada cracks a grin, "Didn't you hear? I'm an innocent man." The bartender sneers, "Like hell you are." Quesada's grin turns into a rageful glower. He shoots a hand out, grabs the woman roughly by the arm, "Watch your tone with me, Alex. You don't want another trip to the ER, don't you? Remember who writes your check." Not wasting any time, I drop onto Quesada's table. "What the fuck?!" Quesada yells, falling back on his ass. Everyone's eyes are on me, jaws hanging. There's a long dragged out silence. Could hear a pin drop. I could've easily slipped in unnoticed. Fade right into the shadows. Not tonight. I'm not playing nice tonight. A few of the patrons begin to back away. **

**"Is that guy for real, or am I just that wasted?" a man says. Quesada holds himself up by his elbows, "Who the hell are you?" I smirked under my mask, "A crusader." One of Quesada's men draws a pistol and aims it at my hand. In a blink of an eye, I take control of the gun, yank it away, then shoot a fist to the goon's face, breaking his nose. The guy on the left comes at me next, slashing his knife horizontally. I dock low, shoot in close, upper-cut-elbow his face, then hip-throw him to the floor. I push-kick bad-guy-3 in the gut, sending him flying to the wall. The others are frozen in place. A few of them had crossed paths with me at one point or another. They're fully aware of what I was capable of. Quesada shouts for them to attack. Only two of them are more inclined to carry out the order. The first guy draws a gun and fires. Nothing happens. I could tell by the smell of rust from within the weapon that the weapon wouldn't fire. The man's eyes go wide in disbelief. I knock him out with a quick strike to the head. Once the first guy is down, I flash to the second goon. He throws a weak punch. Swaying, I back-elbow his face, hard enough to rock him. The others run off with the patrons. It's just Quesada and me. **

**The man is shaking in complete terror. Quesada starts to make a run for the exit, but I pull him back with the grapple-line. "You can't do this! I was acquitted!" he tries, struggling desperately to get free. "No, you paid off a corrupted Judge," I growl, lean in close to the man's face, "Time to give the Devil his due." Quesada's eyes go wide in horror. As I'm exiting the dive bar, the police hit the scene. Quesada sprints toward them with his hands up, begging the cops to take him in. He starts confessing his crimes, naming other women he had attacked. I slip away unnoticed.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24:**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[1 day later, New York City]**

**I'm enjoying a run through the city rooftops. A call comes in through the comlink. It's Skye. "I heard about your last night escapade in today's NEWS paper. So that's what you did after you dropped me off at my place," Skye voices. "You mad?" I ask. "No. Just a little disappointed you didn't tag me along to take down this perk." I smirk, "If it makes you feel a little better, I didn't bring Karai on my escapade." I can hear Sky's eyes roll. "Well, Karai was spending some alone time with her girl," she tells me. I make a u-turn, "Anyway, I'm on my way to SHIELD HQ. See you in a bit."**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Training-area.] Skye takes a few shots on a stationary target. "Perfect grouping," I say, walking over to her. She smiles, places the gun on safe, then puts it down, "I Imagined they were all Ward." May, who was watching her, strolls to fire range, "Imagined they're targets. Don't get cocky. You might have been trained by the AVENGERS, but that doesn't mean this will get any easier. It's all about control over your mind and body. Never forget that." Skye sighs, "Are you saying what I pulled is puny and sad?" May checks Skye's smartwatch, "61 beats per minute. Consistent the whole time. Not that puny." The woman shoots Skye a slight smirk. I lean into Skye's ear, "Karai and I got drilled the same way by Coulson." Skye lets out a small chuckle. May pulls a sniper rifle from the weapon rack, "Here, I want you to get used to this." That moment Hunter hikes over, pushing a cart, Mack right beside him. "Pardon me. Just a quick question. You went to SHIELD academy, right?" Hunter asks Skye. "Nope. Never did," she tells him. He turns to me for my answer. I shake my head, "Same. Karai and I did mostly VR training before joining SHIELD." **

**Hunter drops his head, "Damn." With a grin, Mack hands him a clipboard, "Well, you lost that bet. Enjoy inventory." He walks off. "I'm so confused right now," I say, eyeing Mack and Hunter back and forth. "We had a wager going on. We betted on whether both of you went to the academy. Hell, I definitely thought Raijin went due to his skill sets," Hunter says. He shifts toward Skye, "Coulson said you're a SHIELD agent- with a badge and all." "Yeah, it started off like a work-study thing. But I'm a full pledge agent," she tells him. Hunter perks up, "Curious. Hartley loves her blade but hates guns. Idaho, if on a job someone ended up dead, he'd go to church, light a candle. said it'd balance the karma. See, I know them, what they'd do, not do. So, us being workmates and all." Skye's eyes narrow, "You're asking if I ever killed someone." He nods. She rubs her hands together, "No." I cut myself into the exchange, "Don't you have inventory to do?" "Right, I'll be on my way. Ladies. Gents," he says, walking off. I turn to Skye, "For the record experience doesn't make it any easier to cross someone off." She drops her gaze, "You have." I bob, "Yeah. It was easy for me. Violence was my world."**

**[Room.] "You know I never understood why you got two places?" I ask Skye, walking into her room. She shrugs her shoulders, "I guess it's my way of separating the two lives." I guess I could understand the need to separate things. Notice Skye is lost in thought. "You okay?" I ask. She blinks, bringing herself out of it, "Yeah. Just thinking about the discussion with Hunter." "Care to elaborate," I say. She rubs her hands together nervously, "Even though I never took a life. I have thought about it. A lot. Especially after everything he did." "Ward," I say, knowing who she's referring to. Skye takes a deep breath, "Yeah, Ward. I hate the fact that he hurt us in a way we may not ever fully heal from. He pretended to be our friend/partner to get close to us, just stab us in the back. He killed so many good agents without a shred of remorse or guilt. What's worse, I saw the ugly side of him when he used the Berserker staff. I caught a glimpse of how twisted he is, but I chose to ignore it. Even made up an excuse for it, that the staff messed up his mind for a bit. Turns out, that's not how the staff works."**

**"Yeah, Thor told me you asked about the Berserker staff's effects," I say, "It amplifies the person's already existing negative emotions. Draws power from it." Skye nods, rubs her face, then looks up into space, "I hate being in the same room with him. The way he looks at me makes my skin crawl." I straighten up at that, "What?!" Skye crosses-arms, "I don't know how to describe it." "Did you talk to Coulson about this?" I ask. "Yeah. He was willing to pull me out. But I said no. Ward won't talk to anyone else but me. As long as he gives us actionable intel, I deal with it," she tells me. I set a reassuring hand on her shoulder. **

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[AVENGERS HQ, New York City]**

**After the 20th lap around the training-area, I move toward the punching bag. I start the rep with a few easy warm-up punches. A thought preoccupied my head, the new dynamic between Wanda and me. Maybe this is a sign that I'm starting to move on with my life. I strike the punching-bag with a few combos. "You're overstressing, Rogers," a familiar voice says. I turn around to see Nat, who stands by the doorway, arms folded over her chest. I shoot her quick wave. She strolls deeper into the training-area. "So I hear you and Wanda are dating now," she says with a smirk. I stop my workout and face her, "Yeah. Also, I got a sneaking suspicion you had a hand in it." Nat shrugs her shoulders in mock innocence, "I just provided a little push. Besides, knowing you. You might have taken forever to make a play at Wanda." I opened my mouth to say something back, then closed it, knowing she's right. That moment a thought occurred to me, "Are you okay with all this. I don't want to make things awkward between us." Nat crakes a small smile, "There's nothing to be awkward about. What we had was an arrangement between two soldiers who wanted an occasional lay. Hell, if things don't work out between you two, we could talk about going back to the old routine." I drop my head with a half simper, not knowing if she's joking or being serious.**

**I change the subject, "I see you and Bucky are getting chummy. Good. He needs more friends. The both of you do." "Hey, I got friends," Nat snaps. I raise a brow. "Okay, more like just you, Clint, and the PARAGADES," she says. "That's a very small circle," I remark. Nate reels her hands, "Well, I believe having a few close friends is better. Less bullshit to dig through." "Language," I say. Nat rolls her eyes, "Such a boy-scout, Rogers." I start to unwrap my hands, "Yeah, but I'm a lovable boy-scout." The spy/assassin cocks her head, amused, "Old-man has a sense of humor. Who knew?" I wave her off. Remembering what Tony once said, I start to laugh to myself. "What's so funny?" Nat asks me. I throw up a hand, "Nothing, I just remembered something, Tony said. He might have mentioned he was putting up a wager if you and Banner got together." She clicks her tongue, "No disrespect to Banner, but that would have never worked out. We're far too different people. Hell, it would've been a safer bet if I got together with Clint." "I raise a brow at that. "We have history," is all Nat states, starting to make her leave from the training area.**

**[New York City]**

**I walk arm in arm with Wanda, enjoying the night out on our first official date. Wanda eyes the city in wonder, "This city is truly amazing." "Yeah, it really is," I say in agreement. It has been almost a year since the Battle of New York, and things within the city are turning back to normal. Well, for the most part. Hell's Kitchen, the epicenter of the battle, is still struggling with a high crime rate. Almost on cue, Wanda and I overhear a conversation close by. The topic is on the Hell's Kitchen vigilante Daredevil. Though I never personally met the masked hero. His reputation is well known throughout the neighborhood. Hell, even garnered respect from some members within SHIELD and the AVENGERS. Namely, Raijin, Karai, and Skye. Wanda seems a small smile as she turns back to me, "I guess the vigilante has some fans." I nod, "Yeah. He's also not the only hero who popped up as of late. There's the hero of Harlem. The masked individual with the glowing hands in Chinatown. The Spiderling character in Queens. And those are only the ones we know about." She arches a brow, "You have been keeping track of these heroes?" I shrug my shoulders, "More or less."**

**We continue touring around the city. Since joining the team and moving into AVENGERS HQ, Wanda never really explored NYC. Hell, I think this is the first time she has gone farther than four blocks. Least she's enjoying herself. That moment an idea hit me. I step in front of Wanda, "Come on. I think this is something you might like." I take her hand and lightly tug her towards the end of the block where I parked the motorcycle. I get on the motorcycle. Wanda hops on behind me, wraps her arms around my waist. She lets out a laugh of delight as we drive down the street. Speeding up slightly, I glance back every once in a while to give her a grin. I smirk, congratulating myself for coming up with this idea. She definitely should go out more. Revving the bike, we speed off to our next destination. I stop the bike at the heart of New York City.**

**[Central Park, New York City]**

**Being that it snowed the day before, the park is still covered. Walking side by side, Wanda gazes around. "It almost feels like we step into an entirely different world," she says, "Reminds me of Sokovia during the winter before everything went so wrong." I follow behind, my hands in my pockets as I watch Wanda swivel around, taking in the site. I found myself taking in her joy, feeling a sense of light-hearted glee that I haven't felt in a long time. Wanda wraps her arms around mine, then places a kiss on my cheek, "Thank you, Steve." Suddenly the phone in my pocket buzzes. With a sigh, I check it. Epyon tags an emergency alert. OSCORP is under siege by an armed group of mercenaries. Wanda presses a switch on her watch. Right before my eyes, Wanda's AVENGER suit materializes around her body. She glances toward me. "Stark?" I ask, already knowing the answer. She bows her head in acknowledgment, "I believe he calls it Nano-tech." "Yeah. The man really is his father's son," I say, punching down the switch on my own device, and like Wanda, my suit materializes on my frame.**

**[Raijin POV]**

**[SHIELD HQ, New York City]**

**[Gym.] Skye throws a right-hook-punch. I block the strike and collar-tie-sweep her to the mat. She counters by leg-sweeping me, sending me falling to my side. Skye goes for a capoeira style down-kick. I roll out the way and kip-up to my feet. Back on her feet, Skye throws a combo of punches. I dock low on the first swing, sway back the second, the last attack I black. But she catches me with a nice push-kick to the gut, staggering me back a little. Exploding forward, Skye leaps into the air and jump-elbows me in the jaw. The woman goes for another attack, but I rebuff with an arm-triangle-choke. It doesn't take long for Skye to tap out, signaling the end of our sparring match. Grabbing a bottle of water, I hand it to Skye.**

**"Well, that was a fun work out," she says, taking the bottle. "I'll say. You tagged me pretty good with that elbow strike," I voice, feeling my lip is busted open. It starts to regenerate itself. "Shit, I'm sorry," Skye exclaims, concern written all over her face. I wave it off, "It's okay. I heal fast, remember." Despite my plea that there's nothing to worry about, Skye checks my lip anyway. She leans up and places a soft kiss on my lips. "How's that?" her voice oozes with a seductive tone. Smirking, I play along, "Well, I'm still a bit tender here and there. I think I'll need special care." "Special care, huh," Skye purrs. Just as things are about to heat up, my comlink alerts me of an incoming call from Cap. "Duty calls," I state. We nod at each other and gear up.**

**[Steve Rogers POV]**

**[OSCORP, New York City]**

**It's pandemonium. The site looks like a small war zone. Police set up a perimeter around the building. The commanding officer in charge is having a hard time controlling the situation. "I'm still not getting an answer! For the love of God, somebody gets me talking to these guys!" Wanda and I push forward. The man notices us and steps in the way, stopping our advancement, "Hey, no way! We have the situation under control. We don't need the AVENGERS getting involved." I eye the man and then the surrounding, "With respect, Sergeant, no you don't. The situation is far beyond your control. And frankly, you need all the help you can get." "Listen, Soldier Boy-" Our attention is dragged away as we hear a woman's scream. We watch as a masked merc throws the woman off the roof. "NO!" I yell out. Wanda quickly reaches out, catches the woman in a net of scarlet energy, and safely brings her down to ground level. Nostrils flaring, "We're going in. Send in SWAT when they arrive."**

**[Lobby.] With the resources at the NYPD disposal, a building like OSCORP can't be fully secured. Too big. Too open. Whoever are these mercs? They're competent and well trained. A few innocent civilians who haven't been captured by the mercenaries rush past us toward the exit. 'Good, a few less innocent people to worry about.' A squad of combat-suited mercs is at the end of the lobby, blocking the path. I narrow my eyes, sizing up each of them. They did the same. The merc in the middle draws a set of technological gauntlets, punches his fist together, and sparks energy crackles. My eyes widen. They're using modified Chitauri weapons. He charges at me, throws a fist, firing a blast of energy. I jump-roll out the way, roll to a crouching position, fling the shield, knocking the goon on his ass. The merc on the left sprint forward, trying to get the jump on me. A net of scarlet energy wraps around the marc and then thrown to the wall. The last Mercenary still standing is shot in the chest with a stun-bolt. Raijin and Skye form up on me. "Sorry, we're late. Got tied up dealing with some mercenaries a few blocks out," Raijin says. I shoot them a nod, and we push forward.**

**[Stairway.] "Do we know what it is these mercenaries are after?" Wanda asks, keeping pace with me. "Biotech weapons. OSCORP is the leading company in defense contracts for the US military after STARK INDUSTRIES. Well, I guess OSCORP is number 1 now since Stark dropped out," Skye says. "I'm surprised OSCORP is still standing after the fiasco a few years ago," Raijin comments. I face the male PARAGADE, "What fiasco?" "As you already know, there was a war between America and Iraq. Long BS political story short. OSCORP was contracted by the US government to start up a SUPER-SOLDIER program called OZ. It was a colossal failure," Raijin tells me, "The volunteers who took the enhancer went violently psychotic." I bob my head, understanding the full ugly picture.**

**[70th floor.] Emerging from the stairway, I scan the surroundings, spot an armed mercenary on patrol. Sneaking up behind the man, I knock him out with a quick strike to the neck. Via HUD, Raijin, and Skye mark all the mercs in the sector and tag the remaining hostages' location. I hand-sign the PARAGADES to use an EMP-grenade to kill all the lights. Obliging, Raijin pulls one out from his pack and sets it off. The lights go out. From a distance, I could hear the mercs start to panic. "Search the area! Find them and kill them!" a man barks. The mercs scour the sector in the hunt for us. Sticking to the shadows, the team and I move to take out the mercs one by one. I sprint down the hallway, trap a merc in back-choke-hold, rendering the man unconscious. Fling the shield toward merc-3, striking him in the chest, dropping the man. Merc-4 reaches for his weapon. Zapping side to side across the hallway, I tackle merc-4 to the wall and hit him with a quick combo of punches.**

**The marked mercs were taken care of by Raijin, Skye, and Wanda. Now it's only the mercs guarding the hostages to deal with. The three of us stack-up on the door. Skye hand-signs me that there are seven mercs on the other side with ten hostages. Thinking, I consider a plan of attack. An idea hit. I glance toward Wanda, "Scarlet, you think you can conjure up an energy barrier around the hostages?" The Sokovian shoots me a nod, "Just point me where they are, and I will do the rest." Skye taps Wanda's shoulder and hands her a pair of HUD goggles. Wand falls back and readies herself on the *go* world. I hold three fingers, start to count down from three, then bash open the door. Wanda quicking forms an energy shield on the hostages. Raijin tosses in a flash-grenade. Once it goes, everyone in the room is blinded. Taking point, I, along with Skye and Raijin, storm in and in quick succession drop all seven mercenaries. "Well done, team," I say to the three.**


End file.
